This is a very strange book on one hand and fascinating on the other. Characters are introduced in almost every chapter but they’re never described, in fact the main character is never identified as either male or female but I suspect she’s female. ‘She’ has lots of friends and moves around the country in every chapter finding strength from her friends.

The ‘they’ of the title are never identified and the reason they’re doing what’s described in the book is never given. Books have pages torn from them in people’s homes, then individual books are taken, before whole libraries are confiscated and destroyed. Art is taken, glassware smashed, and art galleries are emptied.

Artists are persecuted: weavers, writers, painters, sculptors are all taken away either to be cleansed or killed depending on the severity of their crime. Single people and those couples without children suffer the same fate. Children are taught to hate animals.

There’s no happy ending and I like the book for this reason.