My son read Sharp North
by Patrick Cave back when it was first released in the U.S., in 2009, and he
has been telling me to read it ever since! I finally found the time to tackle it, thanks to my Big Book
Summer Challenge, and discovered my son was right: this is a fast-paced,
exciting dystopian adventure with a unique plot that pulled me in and kept me
reading.
Teenaged Mira has lived a content, simple life in the snowy
mountains of Scotland in an isolated village with her adoptive parents. Then, one day, a strange woman is
killed in front of her in the woods, and Mira’s peaceful, happy life is
shattered. The woman leaves behind
a crumpled piece of paper that contains a list of names, including her
own.
Suddenly, Mira is questioning everything she has ever been
told or believed about her life.
Who is she, really? Who was
the mysterious woman and why was she killed? Mira feels she must find answers and can no longer trust
anyone, so she sets off on her own to follow the clues left by the dead woman,
but she has no idea what dangers hide in the wider world beyond her little town
and her protected upbringing.
This unique novel is set in a distant, dismal future UK
where relentless flood waters have changed not only the geography of the
country but its internal workings as well. Britain is now ruled by the Great Families, leaving a poor
underclass who are barely surviving.
With such limited resources, reproduction has been severely limited, but
there are rumors that the Great Families have secret, illegal clones of
themselves – spares – just in case they are needed.
Cave weaves a complex and intricate story of a time and
place very different from our familiar world. Mira’s journey takes her on a long and dangerous series of
adventures, as she follows her heart and tries to do what she feels is right,
drawn by the need to find out the truth about her own life. I enjoyed this
fast-paced and exciting novel very much.
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