Howard Robinson

The Sixth Republic Howard Robinson

What happens when the country you have always called home decides you're not welcome anymore? A new novel, which imagines what life might be like in France under a future Far Right President - as told through the stories of a series of different characters, The Sixth Republic is Howard Robinson's third novel. It begins with France having elected her first Far Right President, Marianne Mercier, who wastes no time in moving to create a nation only for those she deems to be "authentically French". This includes the closing of France's borders, the imposition of bans on ethnic minorities and the creation of guarded communes in remote parts of the country to which all members of ethnic communities must be sent. The novel explores the implications of such moves for those labelled the enemy within - people like young Muslim woman Inura Badour, her parents and her partner or Jewish teacher Andre Saloman and his family, including his grandmother Mathilde, who had been a member of the French Resistance during World War Two. The plot continues in the United Kingdom, where admirers of the new French President are poised to engineer a similar scenario. The rise of the National Independence Party and its leader Hugo Sherriden threatens anyone deemed undesirable by virtue of colour, religion or sexuality. But amid the darkness, there is always hope that tolerance can win out over extremism.