The Rain
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
An apocalyptic thriller, The Rain by Virginia Bergin is a coming of age story of survival in a scary, weather-beaten world.
One minute sixteen-year-old Ruby Morris is having her first proper snog with Caspar McCloud in a hot tub, and the next she’s being bundled inside the house, dripping wet, cold and in her underwear. Not cool.
As she and Caspar shiver in the kitchen, it starts to rain. They turn on the radio to hear panicked voices – ‘It’s in the rain . . . it’s in the rain . . . '
That was two weeks ago, and now Ruby is totally alone. People weren’t prepared for the rain, got caught out in it, didn’t realize that you couldn’t drink water from the taps either. Even a drop of rain would infect your blood, and eat you from the inside out. Ruby knows she has to get to London to find her dad, but she just doesn’t know where to start . . .
After rescuing all the neighbourhood dogs, Ruby sets off on a journey that will take her the length of the country – surviving in the only way she knows how.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
There's a space bacterium raining down on England, infesting the water supply and fatally infecting everyone it touches. Through a mix of careful planning and sheer luck, 15-year-old Ruby Morris is one of the lone survivors, teaming up with a nerdy classmate and a traumatized mute girl to find her father in London. Writing from Ruby's perspective, debut novelist Bergin treats the story as the girl's recollection of the history of the epidemic and a handbook of sorts for other survivors. But Ruby's character development remains stunted even through life-altering trauma and devastation. Despite the deaths of Ruby's baby "brother-brat beloved," her mother, and all her friends, as well as becoming the caretaker for several dogs and a young girl, Ruby shows little growth. She is so preoccupied with her appearance that she stops for a makeover amid the chaos, lugs around cosmetics, and loots designer duds instead of focusing on potable water and protective gear. Although the most accessible characters are often flawed, Ruby becomes increasingly unsympathetic as the story progresses. Ages 14 up.
