Book Review: ‘The Verge by Nadia Attia

Verge is Nadia Attia’s 2023 debut novel. It follows the 17 year old Rowena who must travel to her grandmother in Culcraith before her 18^th birthday to remove the curse her mother believes was placed on her when she was born. What would be a simple journey for us proves increasing difficult for Rowena and Egyptian-born driver Halim who has been tasked with delivering her safely to her destination, in this post-Brexit gloomy dystopian version of the United Kingdom.

After reading the blurb for Verge I was initially excited to start this book with its promise of an atmospheric gothic thriller with curses and hauntings but, a few chapters in, I started to feel frustrated. The novel felt like it had so much potential but it suffered from too many ideas packed into one story.

I wasn’t expecting the dystopian element and, while I’m normally a fan of the sub-genre, in this case the dystopian world became the focus of the story and ended up overwhelming the horror aspects.

A gothic-style story about a young girl trying to throw off her curse and a modern day dystopia where all of Britain’s counties are their own separate kingdoms with border controls are both interesting story concepts in their own right. Instead of using both ideas in the same book I wish Attia had separated the two plotlines into their own distinctive novels.

Another frustrating aspect of this book was its lack of likeable characters. Despite being the protagonists, Rowena and Halim are constantly bickering and storming away from each other in disgust. It made it hard to root for them and it made the romance sub-plot between the pair feel unearned. There is also a whole cast of deeply unpleasant side-characters who populate the story – which didn’t help my enjoyment of the book.

In Verge Attia tackles the issue of racism – in this case against Halim. In this alternative dystopian future it seems that when Britain severed ties with the continent only white people were living there because pretty much every character is a vile racist. There are some powerful moments in the novel, such as the first time we see a community turn on Halim after a girl makes up lies about him and the time Rowena’s eyes are opened when she realises the reason why the border guards are only addressing her and not Halim. However because we see these verbal and physical attacks in each of the many counties the pair travel through, I feel this unintentionally lessened the impact of the final attack Halim endures in the closing chapters. Had these moments of violence been fewer it would have then made them more shocking because, as readers, we wouldn’t be expecting them.

Despite my frustrations with Verge I did complete the book as I wanted to know if Rowena would be able to free herself from the curse or not so in that sense the novel was successful because it made me want to read until the end. As I’ve said I feel the plotlines and world building within the book had a lot of potential but sadly the combination didn’t work for me.

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