Anna by Sammy H K Smith

I’m going to preface this review with a warning. The themes explored in Anna are likely going to act as a trigger for some readers. There are elements to the narrative that cover the trauma of physical and mental abuse. 

Beaten. Branded. Defiant.

Anna is a possession. She is owned by the man named Will, shielded from the world of struggles by his care. He loves her, protects her, and then breaks her. Anna is obedient, dutiful, and compliant. Anna does not know her place in the world.

When she falls pregnant, Anna leaves her name behind, and finds the strength to run. But the past – and Will – catch up with her in an idyllic town with a dark secret, and this time, it’s not just Anna who is at risk.

This week’s review is a dark, powerful story of survival. Anna by Sammy H.K. Smith is a near-future exploration of a world in decline viewed through the eyes of a young woman.

The larger dystopian elements of the novel are subtly done. Society has collapsed in upon itself through a series of conflicts that have ravaged the world. In the aftermath, humanity has reverted to type. The strong prey on the weak. The more overt evidence that something has gone horribly wrong is found in the wilder parts of the country. In the places where there is no longer any law-and-order roaming gangs run riot, only looking out for themselves. Women are bartered, often branded, and lead around on chains. This is where we first meet ‘Anna’. Captured after years of surviving in isolation she is dragged, kicking and screaming, into a living nightmare.

A lot of the plot unfolds directly from Anna’s perspective, so this gives genuine insight into her thoughts and feelings. She learns to be patient, to watch and listen as her captor’s lives go on round about her. Part of her is able to compartmentalise her painful imprisonment. Anna isn’t her real name. Anna is a character conjured into existence for a specific purpose, a role assumed to survive an ordeal.

Anna’s main nemesis is a man called Will.

I think one of the most horrifying revelations is that Will views himself as the hero of his own story. He has bought into his own bullshit and views his twisted abuse as almost a chivalrous act. He is convinced he is protecting Anna, saving her because she is weak while he is strong. Will’s mood swings from controlling and violent to apologetic and conciliatory. I don’t think I have ever come across a character quite so loathsome, but I guess that is sort of the point. Will is the monster at the heart of this tale after all. The fact he can’t see that is the scariest thing of all. There is a lot to be said about the nature of a patriarchal society and how toxic masculinity has a hell of a lot to answer for. It should be simple, shouldn’t it? No one should ever be in a situation where they are treated as nothing more than a possession.

The second half of the novel has a more hopeful tone. When she escapes Will and finds another life, the Anna persona is washed away. Anna becomes someone else, someone new. Her second chance at life seems to be a million miles away from her traumatic past but is it really? Has Anna just replaced one form of prison for another? A jail is still a jail even if it is pretty to look at. If you don’t have freedom, what does the view matter?

Very rarely I find myself so caught up in the experience of reading a novel that I exclude all else. Anna is one such instance. I read the entire book from cover to cover in a single sitting. It has such a raw, emotive core I had to know how the story resolved itself. The author does an amazing job of capturing Anna’s voice. We follow her on every harrowing step of her transformative journey. Anna’s pain and rage felt palpable. Her steadfast refusal to be defined as a victim feels heartbreakingly real.

I don’t think you can say that you enjoy a book like Anna. That’s not the right word to describe the experience. I think it is more appropriate to say you are educated and informed by reading it. I’ll admit there were moments where I struggled, the first half of the book is relentlessly bleak, but these are the times when you have to put your trust in an author. Smith explores difficult subject matter with a delicate and thought-provoking touch.

Anna is published by Solaris and is available now. Highly recommended.

My musical recommendation to accompany this novel is the haunting and evocative soundtrack to Promising Young Woman by Anthony Willis. As an aside if you do get the opportunity to see this film this soundtrack comes from, I strongly suggest you do so. Carey Mulligan’s performance is mesmerising, and like Anna, this is a story that needs to be told.