In the autumn of 1899 Sibelius composed the music for a series of tableaux illustrating episodes in Finland´s past. The tableaux were presented as a part of the Press Celebrations held in November that year. The celebrations were a contribution towards the resistance to the efforts to increase Russian influence in the then autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. The music culminated in a stirring, patriotic finale, “Finland awakes”. I thought this book was going to be about a community of women thriving without the need for men. But I was wrong. So wrong. The book’s main character Miranda Reynolds, has lost her job, her husband, and her home. She and her daughter have nowhere left to turn but there is one final hope, Femlandia. A self-sufficient haven for women (or womyn) only that was created by Miranda’s mother, Win Somers. In Q/Masterclass, Elena was an English language teacher in an elite school, in a world in which everyone is judged by their perceived intelligence and social standing, and anyone falling below in that regard was sent away. Elena and her partner came up with the system when they were younger- Elena only regretting it when it effected her later in life.

Miranda Reynolds always thought she would rather die than live in Femlandia. But that was before the country sank into total economic collapse and her husband walked out in the harshest, most permanent way, leaving her and her sixteen-year-old daughter with nothing. The streets are full of looting, robbing, and killing, and Miranda and Emma no longer have much choice—either starve and risk getting murdered, or find safety. And so they set off to Femlandia, the women-only colony Miranda's mother, Win Somers, established decades ago. Femlandia is Christina Dalcher’s third feminist dystopian fiction novel, cementing her name in the genre. It tells a new story, however, there are a few themes that seem to carry through from one novel to the next; the main female characters in each novel for example all have some qualification and/or job in linguistics and communication, this is perhaps because the author herself is a linguist so she has followed the rule of writing what you know. For me ‘Femlandia’ was a strange read; on the one hand it describes a dark dystopia which I am usually drawn to but on the other it is a very difficult story to digest. Firstly, the title and the name of the commune - Femlandia. FEMLANDIA. FEM! I don’t have the energy to go into all the issues I had with this, but I will say it gave me distinct memories of a revered 90s YA author who would have his characters go to the mall and visit shops called things like CD World.

In 2000, the listed U.S.-based Brown-Forman Corporation acquired 45% of Finlandia Vodka Worldwide, with the state-owned Altia Group, a successor of Alko's production division, retaining 55% ownership. [10] Two years later Brown-Forman acquired an additional 35% stake in Finlandia Vodka. In 2004, Brown-Forman acquired the remaining 20% of Finlandia Vodka and assumed 100% ownership in the brand. [11] In the near future society is on the verge of collapse. A mother & her daughter are on a long walk across a country that is now dangerous & foreboding. They hope to reach a safe haven for women, but there are challanges just to survive before they get there. In the end, the epilogue tries to show something that could have made the book so much better. But of course, it did that wrong too. behind the walls of femlandia, womyn are free from the scrutiny of the male gaze, from abusive husbands, from the aggressions and microaggressions of men:

Femlandia the book isn’t about a feminist utopia like Charlotte Gilman’s Herland was, or even a dystopia (again, who gets to decide what is what, anyway?). It is a jittery thriller about how all and any extreme shifts of power result inevitably in human cruelty, regardless of who is in charge of whom. Power, the desperate need for survival, the evolutionary circles which human society seems to turn in—these are all valid and strong concerns for Dalcher in Fermlandia. Subtlety sadly, is not a strong suit here, not in the community, nor the book. Appraisals of Sibelius as just a “Romantic nationalist” would have irked the composer, but it’s clear that a strong love for Finland drove much of his work. He took to his role as a figurehead of Finnish culture with gusto, refusing to flee for safety when Russia invaded in World War Two, and he continued to draw on Finnish folklore throughout his career. Finlandia has become not only synonymous with Sibelius’s patriotic side, but also with the wider sense of Finnish self-identity. An interesting fate for a piece which the composer at one time dismissed as “insignificant compared with my other works.” Lachenmeier, Dirk W.; Attig, Rainer; Frank, Willi; Athanasakis, Constanze (1 October 2001). "The use of ion chromatography to detect adulteration of vodka and rum" (PDF). European Food Research and Technology. Springer-Verlag. 2003 (218): 105–110. doi: 10.1007/s00217-003-0799-8. S2CID 93323637. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2007 . Retrieved 10 April 2015.

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Miranda; a middle-aged and middle-class white woman, and Emma; her one-dimensional teenage daughter, decide they've had enough of living in a dystopia and walk to their nearest Femlandia, which plot convenience would have it was founded by Miranda's mother, Win. Dalcher’s latest is a cogent and timely exploration of the dangers of misandry and groupthink.”—Booklist but it doesn't give anything to the reader, other than a hollow misanthropic clang. men are shitty. women are shitty. people are shitty. we know. we've been here. Femlandia is due to release in October, but that being said, this review will contain ALL OF THE SPOILERS. If you are determined to read this book for yourself, read no further.*

Another one of the many self-plagiarising ideas that we see used in all 3 of these novels is the idea of the "easily indoctrinated child". Which brings me on to my next point - portraying this whole community as a cult, and choosing to name their leader Jen Jones, is incredibly tasteless. I find it impossible to believe this is a coincidence, and I find it painfully unnecessary and cheap. the trans issue is a pretty good example. the femlandia leadership has a very staunch policy when it comes to transfolk—if you have, or have ever had, a penis attached to your body, you are unwelcome:I’ve become a huge fan of Christina Dalcher and her thought-provoking dystopian novels. From Vox, where the women of America are silenced, literally, to Master Class, where a child’s “IQ” determines their schooling and every advantage (or disadvantage), and now with Femlandia, where a woman and her daughter move into a women-only colony for safety but instead find more danger than they could imagine. Probably inspired by a view over the area of Aulanko, Finlandia feels imbued with a sense of stately purpose, accumulating a feeling of giddy energy from the strident, almost martial brass fanfare and rolling timpani that open the piece. An ominous feeling dominates this early section, representing the years of occupation and oppression that had dogged Finland’s past, but this gives way to a stirring choral section that has a semi-sacred feel. Here, Sibelius intended to create a sense of a Finnish tonality without resorting to drawing from native folk music, as he wrote to his wife Aino at the time: “I would not wish to tell a lie in art... But I think I am now on the right path. I now grasp those Finnish, purely Finnish tendencies in music less realistically but more truthfully than before.” Known as the “Finlandia Hymn”, this choral section was later published as a separate piece with a collection of Masonic ritual music in 1927. The shops are empty; the streets no longer safe. Miranda and her daughter Emma have nowhere left to turn. I had to sit on my thoughts about this book before I decided to write this review. I really needed to process everything I had just read because man, it is heavy. Christina Dalcher is an author that I was already familiar with after reading her novel, Vox, which was compared to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. I actually enjoyed that dystopian read more than I had Atwood’s so seeing Femlandia I was certainly curious yet again. The story in Femlandia is yet again not for the squeamish but it did keep me engaged as I wondered how everything would work out in this one which a few twists along the way.