Buy Books, Subscriptions and Tickets

Author: Nathan, L.M.

Reading age: from c 13 years

Published on 4 July 2024 by Scholastic in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 336 pages
197 x 130 x 25 | 238g

 

‘An intensely readable YA debut with undertones of

Atwood and a vivid, immersive setting.’ The Guardian’A

dystopia unlike any other I’ve seen, combining

debutante courting etiquette with realistic climate change

warnings.’ – Lauren James, author of The Quiet at the

End of the World’Compelling as

it is searingly romantic.’ – Elizabeth Lee, author of

The Cunning Women

‘An utterly compelling dystopia…A simply stunning

debut.’ – Kat Ellis, author of Harrow Lake

‘The must-have book of the season for those who enjoy

their dystopia wrapped in romance.’ – Bex Hogan, author

of Viper

‘Immersive, beautifully written and achingly romantic,

I state my preference for this gorgeous dystopian debut.’ –

Sue Cunningham, author of Totally Deceased

The world didn’t end all at once but drip by drip…

Manon Pawlak has just turned eighteen, a debutant at the start

of the Virtue Season: a process that will result in a match with

a suitable genetic mate. Her best friend, Agatha, has been decommissioned,

forbidden to partake in the season and unite with the

boy who has had her heart since they were children.

When Manon’s mother wades out into the waters of Penn Vale with

stones sewn into the lining of her coat, Manon’s genetic purity

is called into question and she’s forced to rely on the fisherman’s

son, Wick, to keep her secret. But as they dance, the truth about

their world starts to unravel, and Manon finds herself at the

centre of it all. And the council is watching.

Bridgerton meets The Hunger Games with shades

of The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984

As romantic as it is sinister and completely unputdownable

This is L.M. Nathan’s debut YA, almost 10 years in the making

and inspired by the countryside of rural Lancashire

Featuring the ever-popular BookTok tropes of #forbiddenromance,

#friendstolovers and #forcedproximity and themes of a woman’s

right to choose, a woman’s right to her own body, totalitarianism

and how true love endures in even the darkest of places