This story concerns a fictional island called Nollop, named after its famous citizen Nevin Nollop who invented the phrase “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” They even have a statue of Nollop with the phrase written on it. But when letters start falling off the monument, the tyrannical island council decides to outlaw the use of every letter that falls. Now, it’s up to the residents of the island to fight back as their speech becomes more restricted letter by letter.

As an enjoyer of both the English language and dystopian books, this story was a darkly fun read! I enjoyed getting to know the islanders and cheering for their fight against the frustratingly, irrationally evil island council. Under the satire, there’s a chilling message about restricting speech as a method of control.

This is quite a short book, but that meant I had more time to muse over the wording choices and note the ways the islanders overcame the increasing restrictions on their language. Overall, I would recommend this to language lovers and anyone who has ever wanted to both laugh and cry at an evil government.

Content warnings: Authoritarianism, alcoholism, religious bigotry (with a fictional religion), imprisonment, deportation, death, attempted suicide.