Prize-winning Julie Bertagna creates a thrilling and touching adventure of love and loss in this intelligent and brave story set in a brilliantly conceived future world transformed by the ravages of climate change. Mara is growing up in a world changed both socially and geographically as her island home sinks lower and life becomes less sustainable. The future looks bleak but Mara is resourceful. Hearing of the sky cities which rise up out of the sea, Mara, with the help of Fox, who she meets in a virtual world, sets out to build a better future.
The LoveReading Comment:
Thrilling and thought-provoking in equal measure, this is a novel about hope and survival. Set in an imaginatively (yet, quite possibly realistic) created Glasgow of the future (It’s 2099) and beautifully written in stark, yet simple and lyrical prose. Don’t think of the novel as science fiction or fantasy just because it’s set in the future for this is a book that should be read by all for given the current serious discussions on climate change and its consequences, it could well be very relevant to our whole future. This is the first in the series - click here to see them all.
A lyrical, sweeping, epic story of survival against the odds - from one of Britain's most exciting young writers. It is 2099 - and the world is gradually drowning, as mighty Arctic ice floes melt, the seas rise, and land disappears forever beneath storm-tossed waves. For 15-year-old Mara, her family and community, huddled on the fast-disappearing island of Wing, the new century brings flight. Packed into tiny boats, a terrifying journey begins to a bizarre city that rises into the sky, built on the drowned remains of the ancient city of Glasgow. But even here there is no safety and, shut out of the city, Mara realizes they are asylum-seekers in a world torn between high-tech wizardry and the most primitive injustice. To save her people, Mara must not only find a way into the city but also search for a new land and a new home...
Julie Bertagna was born in Ayrshire and brought up near Glasgow. After an English degree at Glasgow University she worked as the editor of a small magazine, a teacher and then as a freelance feature writer for various publications. She was awarded a Scottish Arts Council Writer's Bursary - the second highest ever given to a children's writer in Scotland - after the publication of her first novel, The Spark Gap, which was shortlisted for the Angus Award.
