The Fortress

by S a Jones

“Jones’s radical, detailed vision of what extremes it might take to unlearn misogyny is rendered with insight, immediacy, and painful honesty. This gut-punch of a story is sure to start conversations.”  — Publishers Weekly, starred review

A searing examination of the dark heart of masculinity confronted by a women-led society. The Handmaid’s Tale meets Herland at a party thrown by Anaïs Nin.

Jonathon Bridge has a corner office in a top-tier software firm, tailored suits, and an impeccable pedigree. He has a fascinating wife, Adalia; a child on the way; and a string of pretty young interns as lovers on the side. He’s a man who’s going places. His world is our world: the same chaos and sprawl, haves and have-nots, men and women, skyscrapers and billboards. But it also exists alongside a vast, self-sustaining city-state called The Fortress where the indigenous inhabitants—the Vaik, a society run and populated exclusively by women—live in isolation.

When Adalia discovers his indiscretions and the ugly sexual violence pervading his firm, she agrees to continue their fractured marriage only on the condition that Jonathan voluntarily offers himself to The Fortress as a supplicant and stay there for a year. Jonathon’s arrival at The Fortress begins with a recitation of the conditions of his stay: He is forbidden to ask questions, to raise his hand in anger, and to refuse sex.

Jonathon is utterly unprepared for what will happen to him over the course of the year—not only to his body, but to his mind and his heart. This absorbing, confronting, and moving novel asks questions about consent, power, love, and fulfillment. It asks what it takes for a man to change, and whether change is possible without a radical reversal of the conditions that seem normal.

• ISBN10: 1645660028
• ISBN13: 9781645660026
• Publish Date: 3 April 2020 (first published 10 July 2018)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 23 July 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Erewhon Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9781645660026

Reviews

[Inkslinger]

(Review posted in its entirety at www.BetwixtTheSheets.com.)

" Interestingly enough, upon doing a little advance research on this novel, I found all sorts of trigger warnings and controversy. After reading it, while I realize the subject matter is startling regarding living conditions for anyone, I didn't find it all that shocking. Not as I read it anyway, but like so much of the story, I needed time to consider everything beyond face value.

The premise, a man who's always sort of had it all come easily to him, takes it all for granted.. getting caught by the person who allegedly means everything to him. At the thought of losing her and all that goes with her, he willingly subjects himself to a place where he gives up all his rights.. learning how the other half lives.. so to speak, in exchange for a--"