“When the English Fall” is an apocalyptic oddity of a book: a dystopian take on the utopian world of the Amish. The first-time novelist David Williams describes Pennsylvania “plain folk” grappling with catastrophe — the destruction of the global power grid in the wake of a solar storm — even as they continue on with more tranquil activities like gathering eggs and making jerky. All the while, they consider the nature of human interconnection, and how a community that holds itself apart from the rest of society can, and should, weather that society’s collapse.
Jacob, an Amish farmer and carpenter, serves as our tour guide to this disorienting psychological landscape. The novel takes the form of his diary, and his sentences proceed with Amish forbearance: His words are simple and, like a buggy-tugging horse, each pulls its weight. This stylistic staidness runs in satisfying counterpoint to the dramas unfolding in the outside world of the “English” — the Amish term for non-Amish people. Without electricity or fuel, transportation systems fail and the English lose access to food shipments. Looting, murder and mass starvation result...
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