Description

A near-future dystopia about race, gender and survival from the Godfather of YA

The Bloods are in control and they’re desperate to turn Britain into the world they want to see: right, white, Christian supremist. Anyone who they call abnormal is a target. Amidst the chaos of civil war the country is on the move as small militia groups fight each other and a sea of refugees escapes the cities and the pursuing Bloods. When her home is destroyed in a bombing raid, Marti must strike out on a mission of her own – to save her father and get his vital software into the right hands. But Marti is mixed race and trans and has her three-year-old brother in tow. Crossing into enemy territory could prove suicidal. Yet Marti’s enemies haven’t reckoned with her indomitable will to survive – and the gun she carries, which has three bullets…

• A hard-hitting new dystopian YA novel from Melvin Burgess, winner of the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and the YA Book Prize special achievement award
• ‘Melvin Burgess is one of the founding fathers of modern teen fiction’ Juno Dawson
• ‘A Dickens of the future’ Michael Rosen

About the author

Melvin Burgess was born in London and brought up in Surrey and Sussex. He has had a variety of jobs before becoming a full-time writer. Before his first novel, he had short stories published and a play broadcast on Radio 4. He is now regarded as one of the best writers in contemporary children’s literature, having won the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for his acclaimed novel Junk.