This is such a stunning, compelling and beautifully written book. Sophie Mackintosh's voice and world-building feel so utterly believable and immersive, and it's the first book I've been able to absorb myself in since lock-down. Mackintosh is a true talent and this book deserves every bit of praise and all the accolades that her debut, The Water Cure, received. I cannot recommend it enough. Beautiful and heartbreaking.

3-4 stars

This is Calla’s story, in an unnamed country, place or time. She lives with her father until her first menstruation and then is taken with other girls to The Lottery where she receives a blue ticket which is placed inside a locket. She is also painfully fitted with an IUD coil and dispatched to the city to live a childless life of freedom. White ticket girls go on to be able to produce children. The states will is enforced by Emissaries so there is no way of avoiding your fate. She eventually works in a lab and very much like a lab rat she has to tell her thoughts to Dr A. However, Calla has other ideas about her destiny and she’s out to make her own choices. This leads to punishment and banishment and a dangerous journey to try to get to the border and freedom. Along the way she meets a few other women in a similar situation. Calla is the storyteller.

This is a very strange, possibly even weird book and it’s very unsettling. Calla narrates the story in an unstructured way which I imagine is deliberate as in every other way in this world there is rigid structure. However, that makes it hard to read. Calla is very difficult to understand and she makes it very hard to empathise. She seems robotic, almost dead externally but internally she is something else which is very dark and unfathomable. She appears to have no maternal instincts whatsoever so her desire to have a child either comes from some baser instinct over which she has no control or is an act of rebellion. She is told she can’t have a child so sets about demonstrating that it’s her choice to do so. She’s very disconnected and even with Dr A with whom she has something resembling a relationship she’s playing some sort of game to her own rules. This is a harsh, clinical book of a dystopian world and it’s unrelenting with no soft edges. As you read you have so many questions to which there are no answers - this is the way it is in this place, there is no perceived rationale.

Overall, this is probably a Marmite book that some will not like and others who will admire the idea and the way it is written. It’s very hard to find any empathy because Calla doesn’t let you. At its heart it’s about lack of choice and free will as Calla sets out to prove that it is her body and her decision to do with it what she wills. It’s a very different book which has to be a positive.

That sound you hear is me screaming. I'm screaming because Sophie Mackintosh is such a great fken writer. I'm screaming because her writing reaches in and scrapes itself along your bones and makes you want to sink into the earth and walk into the water and be made of fire.

Yes, it's a dystopia so the Atwood takes will follow but maybe we can just not. Also, why are there so many assholes on Goodreads. Chill out, friends. You don't have to leave shitty reviews. You could stick your head out the window instead. Make something nice to eat. Have a bath.

It's about a society where women are given tickets (blue or white) that permit them to be mothers or not. It's about being a women in that world, this world, any world. It's about women's bodies and women's power.

For me, mostly, it hits home about motherhood and about occupying this (woman's) body and what comes with that. All the statements we make about having or not having children even though we are not trying to make statements we are just trying to live our lives. Women's bodies are political whether we want them to be or not. We are always judged about the lack or the having or the way we have. It's exhausting.

If you liked this read Sheila Heti's Motherhood.

I enjoy Sophie Mackintosh's writing and I think the concept for this is a really intriguing one, In both this novel and her previous one, The Water Cure, Mackintosh manages to blend a dystopian idea with a vivid real world in a compelling way that does not ever become a gimmick. The ethical questions she asks made me shiver: is it okay to take away a woman's choice to have children? What happens when you make a woman's body a crime?

This is beautifully written and thought provoking, but I struggled a bit with the lack of clarity over what was actually going on. The concept is that, when young women begin to menstruate, they are sent to a centre where they are given either a blue ticket (meaning they are considered 'free' of obligations to have children and will be able to have careers) or a white ticket (meaning they will get married and have children). I appreciate the author probably didn't want to interrupt her narrative by over-explaining anything, but I could have done with more world building in order to understand how this situation came about, how it has impacted on people, and what exactly the purpose is of the strange mission or journey the young women have to undertake before they find somewhere to settle.

In this dystopian tale we are told of her life by Calla. When girls reach their first period they are summoned to an official centre where they are subjected to a medical then are asked to take part in a lottery. Some will receive a white ticket, but Calla, like most, will win a “blue ticket” that she will place in a locket bequeathed by her mother. She will then say goodbye to her father, be given a small survival pack and will be advised to head for a city somewhere to “the South”. When we see her 18 years later, she lives and works in a settlement for “blue ticket” women in the City, life is seemingly good, she has a job, house, new lover. But then decides she wants more choice and that will involve having a child.
As the tale unrolls we are introduced to this strange world that is similar in some respects to some places now, but on examination has distortions and differences. White ticket women are allowed to marry and have children – albeit there might be increased risk to this. Blue ticket women are not supposed to have children so have been implanted with a contraceptive device. They are medically monitored for both their physical and medical condition to ensure they meet the “no pregnancy” rule. When Calla finds herself pregnant and will not agree to an abortion she is warned that this will not be tolerated and unless she escapes to an “another” place outside the zone – that apparently lies a distance to the north, she will be tracked down and dealt with. On her route north - which forms a substantive part of this novel - she will meet others who will help or hinder her. But she has to test herself both mentally, physically and emotionally in a way that has not been necessary since her original testing trip south as a teenager.
This is a simple hypothesis to underlie this tale, but it asks many questions. Do we really have choices or is life determined by chance? Even if the first “choice” has been made, should one be expected to stand firm by it? But as Calla travels north we see a spectrum of seemingly casual but much more invidiously destructive tally of ways of life. With the two “choices” for females established when they are still children as the social norm. with little variation allowed, and enforced by both specific watchers and the wider community. The requirement is for women to stay within their specific role of blue (and of course white too). We are shown potential for serious sexual violence against “blue ticket” women seen to be acting outwith their parameters. Women are expected to police themselves but medication either by drugs, or casual acceptance of heavy alcohol intake to ensure compliance seems to be part of the picture. Serious ignorance of the lives of others – or indeed the nature of pregnancy and childbirth, makes compliance the easiest choice for most.
It is hard to say more without spoiling this subtle, multi layered and deeply considered parable. It is a compelling read that draws the reader along at speed. But it also asks a number of questions about compliance, choice, respect for others and the price of loyalty. When would you sell another down the river to get what you want? What price would you pay for friendship? Who can you trust in a dark place? Is making choices about the actual result – or just about establishing the right to make a choice? This novel resonates through the brain for ages after. A re-read allows you to recognise the placement of clues as to the nature of the place that through “ignorance” might have passed you by. But by then you might know that allowing ignorance is a form of control. And by then you might be asking deeper questions about the other people Calla came into contact with and the nature of their collusion, or lack of morality or care for others. You might not like what you read here – but it asks serious questions of the reader and challenges their basic values.

Blue Ticket is a dystopian story, probably set in a near future, where women's fertility is controlled by the state. Young women are subjected to a lottery where the majority are allocated a blue ticket - they will not have children and will wear a mirena IUD to make them infertile. A few receive a white ticket and a life of motherhood awaits. The blue ticket girls are told they are the lucky ones, free to have fun, free from responsibilities, free to pursue a career.

Calla receives a blue ticket and keeps it in a locket around her neck - as the law requires. But after a few years of freedom, she starts to yearn for a child.

On the one level, this is a story of a young woman who tries to escape over the border to a land of choice. It's a game of cat and mouse as the authorities try to close in on her. She meets others along the way who also fail to fit neatly in their pre-ordained roles. She makes friendships and encounters betrayals. It's a British Handmaid's Tale.

On a deeper level, it makes us feel the injustice of this forced choice when so many women in our own society face a choice between a career or motherhood - and some have that choice forced upon them through biology to bad luck. We see that people's attitudes changeover time; what may seem like the right choice at one point of life may no longer look like the right choice at another. And then there is the nature of choice - having one thing and losing another. For some people, there is no right choice - they want both mutually exclusive options.

There are some plot imponderables. Why would the state choose to control fertility in this way? Why would the state stop women emigrating? How does the population remain stable when most women are allowed blue tickets? Then there's the question of men. How can all the men seem to have access to relationships with white ticket women when there are so few to go around?

But I guess these are relatively unimportant practicalities when the primary purpose is surely to make the reader dwell on matters of choice and destiny. Blue Ticket does handle that well. Moreover, there is enough character development for the reader t0 care about Calla and her fate.

Blue Ticket is a short novel, not perfect and not as unique as I suspect it tries to be. But it is a worthwhile and enjoyable addition to the feminist canon.

I remember reading the Water Cure a year or so ago and being blown away. It was one of those books that grabs you from the beginning (always good!) and keeps you wondering what will happen next because it isn't like anything else you've read. In many ways, the same can be said of Blue Ticket, a dystopian novel that looks at what happens when we let society decide who we are...and then disagree.
As with many of these novels, the focus is very much on the way women are viewed in society and how men seem to have a very big say in how we behave and how our bodies are treated. Here, Sophie Mackintosh looks at motherhood, and who gets to decide what makes a good mother. Calla, her central character, gets a blue ticket in the lottery, the day after she has her first period.
At first, she's relieved. It means freedom (as long as she can make it to the city). As she grows older, however, she starts to realise maybe freedom isn't all it's cracked up to be. She wants things she isn't allowed to have, and starts to ask who decided just what type of person, and what type of mother, she would be. The question then becomes what she is going to do about it. And what the authorities will do in response.
It's hard to say more without spoilers. What I will say is that I became totally engrossed in Calla's journey and desperate for her to succeed. Blue Ticket is well written with a compelling story. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can highly recommend it.

If you enjoyed Sophie Mackintosh's "The Water Cure' or Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale', then you'll enjoy this.

Set in a dystopian but highly recognizable future, on starting their periods, women are taken to the lottery office where they are given blue tickets or white tickets. A white ticket means they have been allocated the role of child-bearer, to give birth to a child for a man, who will become the parent seen out and about with the precious and revered baby. A blue ticket means a life of 'freedom' - fitted with a coil, there is no risk of conception, and the girl is liberated and free to live their own life.

This is a story of thoughts and feelings - what if the blue tickets feel the desire of motherhood, what if they do become pregnant? We follow one such blue ticket, Calla, on her journey navigating these emotional and physical milestones.

Harsh and sobering, this is an interesting and enjoyable read.

This is a rather disturbing novel about a state that has introduced a lottery system - those with white tickets will be mothers and those with blue are sterilised, albeit reversibly. Blue ticket follows a blue ticket as she seeks to break free of a system where choice is taken away, and to rebel is to become a fugitive. Mackintosh slowly builds a world that feels realistic, giving additional information as needed rather than in exposition dumps, but arguably doesn’t populate it with characters that feel as real - this may be deliberately alienating as the lead becomes increasingly focused on her own circumstances.

This was a good read, but not as powerful - or as memorable - as The Water Cure, which i loved.

Blue Ticket is a feminist dystopian tale of love and loss, reflecting on the pressures felt by women to fit into their given or perceived role in society.

I was interested to see how Sophie Mackintosh's writing had progressed since The Water Cure, which I enjoyed but felt lacked depth, and though Blue Ticket is undeniably gripping and the concept is fascinating, I feel like she's not quite reached her peak yet.

Like The Water Cure, the writing in Blue Ticket feels superficial, as though we've barely scratched the surface. I wanted to know more about all the aspects of the story that were quickly explained away or outright ignored: how the lottery came to exist, how Calla's parents dealt with the system, what they did after Calla left and how they coped with her absence, how the enforced contraceptive system worked (doesn't the coil have to be replaced every five years?). This book could have been twice the length and not suffered for it, particularly the final third which felt very rushed.

Having said all that, I did enjoy this book a lot. The writing is immersive and evocative, and I will continue to pick up anything Sophie Mackintosh releases in the future.

My favourite book of 2018 was Sophie Mackintosh's The Water Cure. It is still a book that stays with me now. So when I received a chance to read an arc of her new novel I was so excited and jumped at the chance. I dropped my planned tbr and started it straight away.
It sticks with the themes of female dystopia which was explored so well in The Water Cure.
The day a girl gets her first period she is taken to the station to partake in a lottery which will determine her future. If you receive a blue ticket you are free and not permitted to have children. If you receive a white ticket you are set for a life of child bearing. These tickets are worn at all times in a locket around the neck. You are then sent out into the country to make your own way and never see your family again.
When Calla was a teenager she received a blue ticket. But as she grows older she wants a baby, wants to know what it feels like. She becomes pregnant and her whole life is turned upside down. She is banished. White ticket women won't accept her and blue ticket women feel betrayed by her. But she realises there are women out there like her, if you look hard enough. And they join forces to try and make it to the border where they will be able to live with their children. I didn't get the character of Calla. I don't really know why she wanted the child as she wasn't a maternal, loving person and did so many self destructive things while she was pregnant. This was an uncomfortable read but it did get better when Calla becomes part of a secret community of pregnant blue ticket women. But even then it was still a deeply dark novel with no light at the end of the tunnel.

This was page turning and fascinating, I devoured it in a day and loved the style, the prose and the concept. A long hard look at womanhood, motherhood and humanity, it has things to say, but with a corking plot to match.

I was really excited about this book and I knew I wanted to read it as soon as I heard about it.

Much like when reading ‘The Water Cure’ I easily found myself immersed in the world that Sophie Mackintosh creates. I love that you never really know where it’s set or what year it is.
However, another part of me is dying for more information. Specially regarding the lottery and the blue and white tickets.

I’ve read other books regarding the issue of fertility and women’s reproductive rights but found this to be better and more interesting than the others I’ve read.

A meditation on freedom of choice and motherhood

When a girl menstruates for the first time, she must go to the station to take a lottery ticket. White means her life will be as a wife and mother, Blue means work and childlessness. Calla’s ticket is blue. Initially, she throws herself into the life she has been given, fuelled by alcohol and engaging in indiscriminate sex. Over time, she senses a dark cloud gnawing away at her: the absence of motherhood.

Mackintosh is a master at withholding information. Her reticence at filling in extraneous detail works well here. We know as little about the world of the story as Calla does of pregnancy and childbirth.

Oddly, once the protagonist takes action, she goes into a loop of self-destructive behaviour which slows the forward momentum of the middle section.

Intense and haunting.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books (UK). for the ARC

There’s no way this won’t get repeatedly compared to The Handmaid’s Tale, being a dystopian novel about a woman’s lack of choice around motherhood, but that shouldn’t detract from how good this is. Little information is given about the regime that the protagonist, Calla, is desperate to escape, meaning that her world seems disconcertingly like our own, with just a few small and terrifying differences. I really liked this aspect, as I often find the overt world-building that goes into traditional dystopian or fantasy novels to be too much to follow; I much prefer this more speculative world.

Told in the first person, Sophie Mackintosh's "Blue Ticket" is a dystopian tale which centres around issues of fertility and child-bearing in a patriarchal society where free will is eradicated. It's chilling and raises questions about the innate nature of desire and womanhood. By the end, I felt like the book had left a hole in my heart.

Sophie Mackintosh writes a world in which the madonnas and the whores are split irrevocably. Both tribes are issued tickets deciding their fates immediately following their first periods, and carry them for life in lockers around their necks. The former have white tickets and possess all the purity of motherhood; the latter have blue tickets and are forcibly implanted with an IUD, then granted all the hedonistic wildness of a childless life. The protagonist Calla is a blue ticket who, finding herself overcome by the urge to have a baby, cuts out her IUD, then becomes a pariah hunted by agents of the state as she flees pregnant towards the border. This book illuminates the darkness and violence of motherhood - the jealousy and raw desire to possess (I thought of King Solomon, the two women, and the baby), the self-annihilation of maternal sacrifice, the dark fears, the deep tribalism between those who are mothers and those who choose to reject it. The society portrayed is a dystopia but not one that seems particularly menacing or ill-intentioned - it is merely a place where rationality rules, and the battle Calla wages against it is one of biological wanting. I thought afterwards of the arguments circling this (motherhood vs childlessness, birth control/sterilisation vs over-population, the biological desire to pro-create vs environmental obligations) and the crux of all these arguments powerfully explored here - primal desire vs rationality.

The thing is, bookshops are over-packed with 'feminist dystopias' obsessing about babies and motherhood. Yes, reproductive rights remain a contested issue but Atwood nailed the topic and this feels like one of many, many also rans. I loved the twisted fairy tale aura of The Water Cure but this feels unoriginal in comparison. It's hard to buy into the simplistic premise that has minimal world-building to convince and the writing is merely workmanlike. Overall, this lacks conviction and energy: disappointingly flabby with little tension or drive.