A somewhat difficult to classify book by a British author. It comprises a series of linked short stories or novellas set in Dorset, in and around Corfe Castle, with a framing story. I’ve owned several books by Keith Roberts for a while as I come from Dorset and am familiar with the settings of many of his stories.

The framing story and the initial stories are straight-forward post-apocalyptic stories following a limited nuclear war (which is touched on and not detailed apart from a mention that Birmingham and Glasgow were destroyed, and an implication that other bombs were air bursts). Then the stories start veering into the fantastic: civilisation is rebuilt with prehistoric overtones and subsequent invaders have elements of Viking and Celtic tribes.

Enjoyable, but probably not to everyone’s taste.