Metronome: The 'unputdownable' BBC Two Between the Covers Book Club Pick

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Afterwards, I sat in stunned silence for about five minutes, then went down a rabbit hole looking up “yan tan tethera”, discovering that’s it’s an ancient method of sheep-counting traditionally employed by shepherds in the North of England.

And the exile to an island, in the middle of God knows where, surrounded by only ocean..... Trying to stay afloat trying to survive, whilst everything you thought to be true seems to be a lie. Taking pills, relying on hear-say, or to take a chance and rely on your guttfeeling...? She is ambitious, industrious, working hard to create whatever they need and investigating their surroundings. He is passive and compliant, spending time on his art projects and acquiescing to their fate. Tom Watson has crafted a novel which is replete with tension and barely expressed emotions. The emotional and relationship consequences of exile and isolation on two people whose initial actions led to their exile for twelve years are brought to life through the sparse dialogue between Whitney and Aina where so much is left unsaid. Aina’s growing understanding that Whitney has consistently misled her is brilliantly realised as is her subsequent sense of betrayal and disillusion.

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The story centers around a couple who have been banished to an island for having a child against the rules of their country. They have been on this island for 12 years and are waiting to start their parole, with the hope of finally being reunited with their son. However, things start to go wrong and their hope of ever getting off the island starts to melt away. With echoes of Emily St John Mandel and Megan Hunter, this haunting literary thriller is about survival, loss and the binds that unite and break us. Chilling, eerie and powerful -- Elizabeth Macneal I love dystopian thrillers and Metronome was a really intriguing book which stayed with me long after I put it down. Aina and Whitney have been exiled onto an island due to breaking their home’s fertility laws. As a condition of their stay, they must take a pill that is dispensed every 8 hours or they die, however their date of parole is coming up and they will soon be free – or will they?

This author is so talented, the way that the relationship between Aina and Whitney chop and change throughout the novel is done so very well. The claustrophobic feel of two people spending all of their time together, with no other human company is chilling, and the little niggles of doubt and blame between them, that grow with an intensity throughout is impeccably handled. SPOILERS AHEAD] I think my issue comes from the blurb of the book. It suggested a story of survival and hardship, a situation which require out-of-the-box thinking and the island setting itself promised a mystery to unravel. I don't think I would have been as interested if the blurb had hinted at the central idea of population control through fertility regulation because this is a story that has been told many times.

I wanted to know where this island was - I was thinking a remote Scottish island or maybe in Scandinavia. Did it matter that their location is never revealed? No. The bleak description of their island was so well fleshed out that there was enough sense of place to satisfy me without having a map! Between The Covers (7 x 30’) was commissioned by Emma Cahusac, BBC Arts Commissioning Editor. Created and produced by Cactus TV, Exec Produced by Amanda Ross with Series Producer Pollyanne Conway. Atmospheric ... Watson's use of language is nuanced and sensitive, with landscape writing especially a sensory highlight * Guardian * Aina and Whitney now live in a croft – the location of the island, the country from which they came and when the exile takes place are not made clear. It could be anywhere at any time – and this uncertainty contributes to the disconnected other-world milieu of the novel. When the story begins, Whitney and Aina are almost at the end of their exile – in a few days, they expect to be paroled and to return to their home. I read this in two sittings, inhaling every word. I think we can conclusively say that dystopian/speculative fiction is my favourite genre.