Orphans of the Tide
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- €5.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the Branford Boase Award 2021, a breathtaking fantasy adventure for fans of His Dark Materials that The Times calls 'Unputdownable'.
The City was built on a sharp mountain that jutted improbably from the sea, and the sea kept trying to claim it back. That grey morning, once the tide had retreated, a whale was found on a rooftop.
When a mysterious boy washes in with the tide, the citizens believe he's the Enemy - the god who drowned the world - come again to cause untold chaos.
Only Ellie, a fearless young inventor living in a workshop crammed with curiosities, believes he's innocent.
But the Enemy can take possession of any human body and the ruthless Inquisition are determined to destroy it forever.
To save the boy, Ellie must prove who he really is - even if that means revealing her own dangerous secret . . .
'Unputdownable' - The Times
'Enthralling' - The Daily Express
'Sumptuously atmospheric . . . tirelessly inventive' - The Daily Telegraph
'Gripping' - The Guardian
'Energetic and inventive' - Sunday Times
'Gripping and original' - The Observer
'Singularly brilliant' - Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Girl of Ink and Stars and The Mercies
'Compellingly inventive and unpredictable' - Piers Torday, author of The Last Wild
'A terrific debut of strange myths and dark secrets' - The Bookseller (Editor's Choice)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After the death of her brother and inventor mother, orphaned gadgeteer Ellie Lancaster, 12 and cued as white, is left responsible for maintaining many of the intricate mechanisms that help "catch whales, gather oysters, filter seawater, and more" for the inhabitants of the City, a last bastion of humankind that juts out of the flooded world's sea. When a dead whale washes up onto one of the island's rooftops, Ellie frees an amnesiac boy, blue-eyed and light brown–skinned, from its stomach, calling him Seth. The City's Holy Inquisition swiftly declares the newcomer a Vessel of the Enemy—a rogue god who periodically manifests and terrorizes society—and sentences the boy to death. To prove Seth's innocence, Ellie sets out to find the true Vessel with assistance from charming but capricious Finn and adventurous best friend Anna. Alternating an intriguing third-person narrative with first-person accounts from the previous Vessel, Murray weaves an ambitious tale of paranoia, religious zealotry, and adventure. A strong sense of unexplored history combined with the dynamic characters and atmosphere offers potential for further exploration, and readers will enjoy Ellie's struggle to protect her friends and home. Ages 8–12.
