Ravens Watch

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Alternative Title: No Blade of Grass

Author: Sam Youd

Pen Name: John Christopher

First Published: 1956

Cause: Environmental – Virus attacking food crops

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Two London families create an alliance to escape the city if a virus from the Far East forces the British government to make a terrible decision. As their panicked journey starts, they soon pick up others and are forced to deal with lawless strangers as England’s green and pleasant land turns black from the virus. What soon becomes clear is that some people prefer a feudal system over the abandoned governance of democracy.

The book starts with the divines that already exist in society: city vs farmers and putting the home country before distant lands. The foreboding of what is to come starts to brew quickly. A reminder that it only takes one tiny slip to set our world spinning and raise questions of the nature of man. The virus starting in China reads like it was written for the COVID-19 pandemic for a modern reader. Talk of events being distant and such things would never happen in the UK will also sound familiar.

Post-apocalyptic novels always ask questions of the reader, and how they would respond differently in that situation is a common question. This novel starts by asking about helping people on the other side of the world, but soon narrows down that question uncomfortably to members of our family.

All books are of their time, and this one is written during the birth of the Atomic Age. It shows both the hope and fear of this new power. The story is set before World War Two and covers the journey to a promised land that is far from “grim seasons of London” in a believable way. The descent from a united nation to gangs that are out to take what they can is darkly realistic. 

By having a character inside the government, we get an insight into the decisions being made at the highest level. A chance for us to decide if the greater good is the best way to allow civilisation to survive. But it is also a harsh light on what it takes to make those sorts of decisions.

The story is not based entirely in London, but the dilemma of remaining in the city or running to the countryside is a familiar theme. The escape from London is handled in a chapter and forces our main characters to make a life-changing decision. For our main character, family is worth doing anything to protect. Although London as a city is not front and centre in this story, I feel the story looks at how Londoners would need to act. In a real disaster, the urge to leave the city will be felt by many, and the enforcement by the government to remain in place would cause much conflict.

A solid novel that, even though written in the middle of the last century, still has relevant questions for us today.