Year of the Orphan: A Novel - Hardcover

Findlay, Daniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1628729929 ISBN 13: 9781628729924

Publisher: Arcade, 2019

Synopsis

The Road meets Mad Max in this stunning debut with a gutsy, badass young female protagonist—for fans of Station 11, The Passage, and Riddley Walker.
In a post-apocalyptic future where survivors scavenge in the harsh Australian Outback for spoils from a buried civilization, a girl races across the desert, holding her treasures close, pursued by the Reckoner.

Riding her sand ship, living rough in the blasted landscape whose taint she carries in her blood, she scouts the broken infrastructure and trades her scraps at the only known settlement, a ramshackle fortress of greed, corruption, and disease known as the System. It is an outpost whose sole purpose is survival—refuge from the hulking, eyeless things they call Ghosts and other creatures that hunt beyond the fortress walls.

Sold as a child, then raised hard in the System, the Orphan has a mission. She carries secrets about the destruction that brought the world to its knees. And she's about to discover that the past still holds power over the present. Given an impossible choice, will the Orphan save the only home she knows or see it returned to dust? Both paths lead to blood, but whose will be spilled?

With propulsive pacing, a rich, broken language all its own, and a protagonist whose grit and charisma are matched by a relentless drive to know, The Year of the Orphan is a thriller of the future you won’t want to put down.

About this title

From the Author

Now and then I'm asked to sum up quickly what the most surprising, or interesting part of the Year of the Orphan is and I'm always torn.The writer in me wants to reference the language. The broken, challenging voice that makes this story different to anything you have read before. I want to talk about the journey that the reader takes toward understanding, in lockstep with the Orphan herself. "Push on" I want to say, "it might be tough but get through the first ten pages, and then she'll stay with you for a long time."The real answer though, is that the voice is not the most surprising thing about this book. The real surprise is that parts of this story, more than you would think, are true. I have visited the places where they happened and seen what was left behind.There is a secret history in this book, and the secret is that it's real.I think it's only fair to say that this story can polarise readers.Immerse yourself in the language and the world of the Orphan is your rich reward. For others, it's a trek across a forbidding land. Grit in your teeth. Sand in your eyes.Of course, I encourage you to put on your dust mask. Check your stash of water. Set your feet toward the Boundaries and go with her. Whatever you might feel, from frustration, to pain to joy, there is a secret history in this book, and it's worth uncovering.Dan FindlayAugust 2019

About the Author

Dan Findlay is a historian by training and a writer for kids by trade. Dan has over ten years’ experience editing Australia’s leading youth magazines. He also has over a decade of freelance experience as a writer and photographer for Rolling Stone Australia as well as contributing the odd music story to the Sydney Morning Herald and writing for a wide variety of other pop culture titles. He lives in Sydney, Australia.

Edition details

• Publisher: Arcade
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1628729929
• ISBN 13: 9781628729924
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288