Quick Reads: The Replacement Centre

Set in a slightly alternative reality, when a husband or wife in the community dies the grieving partner can get a replacement; they get to choose one who looks similar etc. But there is a mystery surrounding where the replacements come from and if they are content to play this role. Or are they instead planning an escape?

Review :
The Replacement Centre is a dystopian tale set in an alternate present, where a miraculous new solution has been found for the newly-bereaved. Why suffer a loss when you can bring home somebody who looks, sounds and acts just like your deceased partner? (Or is close enough, at least.) Numbed by grief, Mrs Denton replaces her husband Lloyd, urged on by well-meaning neighbours. As she gets to know the new man in her home, she learns some uncomfortable truths about herself and her society. This is an excellent read and an absolute bargain for a pound! That’s a penny per page, practically. If you’re anything like me, you’ll whip through it in no time, but the concepts at the core will haunt you. I was wrong-footed at first, presuming this to be a sinister slice of science fiction like The Stepford Wives or The Midwich Cuckoos. It’s not, as it happens, but the comparison feels apt in terms of the self-deception at play, the warped ideal, and the horrors that hide behind neatly-trimmed hedges. The author is Fflur Dafydd, an award-winning novelist, screenwriter and musician who grew up in Llandysul. Her writing style is unusually passive, but it evokes the tone of bereavement beautifully. Mrs Denton narrates her own tale to us as though from a distance – observing and registering facts in a simple fashion, building up a prosaic picture of loss and reconnection – yet it becomes edged with notes of panic as the lies behind Lloyd, their neighbours, and the Replacement Centre are revealed. If I have any criticism it is that, once the nature of the Replacements is made plain, there is too little time spent exploring and understanding their perspective. I can’t say much more here for fear of spoilers, but I was left with the impression that either a lot more happens behind the walls of the Replacement Centre than we are shown – surgically perhaps, training certainly – or that the society Dafydd creates is so privileged and numb that any Replacement will fill their empty lives. Whilst I could happily spend hours delving into Dafydd’s world, her brevity is part of the appeal of the book in these distracted days. The Replacement Centre is published by Graffeg and forms part of the Quick Reads project, coordinated by the Books Council of Wales and supported by the Welsh Government. Each year two English and two Welsh titles are published with the aim of encouraging less-confident readers to fall in love with fiction of all genres. (You can find a full list of these titles at gwales.com) Whilst The Replacement Centre is written in English, Fflur Dafydd has also authored books in Welsh. Whichever your preference, I encourage you to seek out her work. She’s certainly on my list now.