Brother in the Land
Robert Swindells
 The novel which introduces Danny, who lives with his parents and younger brother. Danny, wanting some time away from his parents' shop, takes his bike out onto the moors; while there, he notices that a storm is brewing, and is just heading for home when he spots a concrete pillbox left over from World War II. He takes shelter inside and, moments later, sees a bright flash, which he initially thinks is a lightning strike. But, when he peers out, he sees a mushroom cloud, and realises what has happened. For the following night he hides in the pillbox, expecting to die at any time, but, in the end, he crawls out and decides to search for his family. On the hillside, Danny encounters a man in a radiation suit, who confiscates his bike, and orders him to "get back to town". Arriving in Skipley, Danny finds the town in ruins, and learns that his family's shop has collapsed, killing his mother. His father and Ben have survived, as they were in the cellar, which the Lodges use as a stockroom. With so much food in their stockroom, the Lodges have plenty to live on, but the other survivors are not so lucky, and, as the weeks pass, people begin fighting over food. Shortly after the war, Danny meets a girl named Kim Tyson, who sums the situation up in the following words: "Cavemen versus gentlemen is no contest." Shortly after Danny meets Kim, the local Commissioner issues an order that "all burned, sick and badly injured persons" should be taken out of the ruins and placed at the roadside so they can be taken to hospital; in fact, the "hospital" is a front for his plan to kill off the worst of the bomb-casualties. Later, the Commissioner implements a system of food and fuel rationing, with severe penalties introduced for hoarding. The injured, elderly, and people driven insane by the nuclear attack (known as "Spacers") are given poisoned rations. But Mr. Lodge refuses to hand over his stock and, though Danny and Ben do register for ration-cards, they only visit the local feeding centre once. Presently, the Commissioner's men come to the Lodges' shop and arrest Mr Lodge. Moments later, the truck bearing Mr. Lodge is blown up, killing everyone on board, and leaving Danny and Ben orphans. The brothers seek sanctuary at the home of Sam Branwell, a smallholder who, along with several other survivors, has formed a resistance movement called Masada (an acronym for "Movement to Arm Skipley Against Dictational Authority); their aims are to overthrow the Commissioner and prevent him from creating a feudal society. Other members of Masada include Danny's former P.E. teacher, Keith Rhodes (the one responsible for blowing up the truck) and Kim, who helps out during the day. It is discovered that a virtual concentration camp has been erected outside of Skipley, on the grounds of the Kershaw Farm, with the remaining able-bodied population of the town being used as slave labor under the Commissioner's rule. From a series of defectors, Danny learns that conditions at the camp are reminiscent of those at Belsen. As a result, the members of Masada are forced to step up their campaign of resistance, and, one night, launch a raid on the camp. After a battle, the Commissioner is overthrown, and Branwell is established as the new leader. However, in the months that follow the raid, all of the newly-planted crops fail, due to the effects of radiation poisoning. Meanwhile, Kim's sister (Maureen) is pregnant, and Kim is worried that the baby may be deformed; in the end, it is born without a mouth, and dies not long afterwards. Foreign troops arrive via helicopter, revealing there were communities all over Europe like Branwell's, which he terms a "commune" or "communist" society. Believing the Swiss troops would rescue them, the camp foolishly eat many of their rations. In fact, the Swiss confiscate their weapons, and disable the few vehicles they have. By now, the camp's food supplies are exhausted, forcing the people to scavenge for whatever they can find, and many are dying. Gradually, people start to leave in small groups to fend for themselves. Shortly after Branwell dies from exhaustion during the second winter after the war, Danny, Kim, and Ben leave the camp and head to Holy Island, where Danny hopes they will be safe. During the journey to Holy Island, the three encounter a group on motorbikes (Rhodes being one of them) in the village of Osmotherley. Rhodes is about to shoot Danny for the food that he'd found down the side of a sink in a café, but Kim intervenes with a gun, and Rhodes and his buddy are killed. Ben becomes ill with radiation sickness &mdash; otherwise known as a "creeping dose" &mdash; and dies. Danny and Kim bury him in the garden of an empty house. In the house, Danny finds a ledger, and starts writing an account of his experiences after the war. He ends by saying that he plans to leave his account behind for future generations to read; he hopes it will warn them not to go down the path which led to the war. Finally, Danny dedicates his story to Ben, his "brother in the land." In 1994, the book was reprinted with a "new final chapter." In this revised ending, Ben still dies, but, rather than leave his account behind, Danny takes the ledger with him to Holy Island, and Kim is expecting a baby, the third of Holy Island, with Danny being the father. If the baby survives, it will be named "Ben."