Fin and Amity yearn for a life with music, colour and freedom. But they live on a remote grey island off northern Britain, one of the few communities to survive the great oil wars that nearly wiped out the world.
The Elders say the islanders survived because they were the Chosen People and so have to live righteously and have nothing to do with sinful outsiders. Life is a strict regime of work and prayer. Books - unless about diseases in chickens - have been burned, musical instruments smashed, make-up and mirrors are the toys of the Devil. And don't even think about dancing...
Girls have little education but must have as many babies as possible to repopulate the world. Amity needs to get out soon.
Inspired by tales told by her rebellious great grandmother, she knows there must be more. When Fin gets the chance to get away he promises to come back for Amity so they can escape for ever together.
But when he returns he seems a changed person, stricter even than the Elders. Amity, baffled and heartbroken, makes her own plans to escape.
Historical Note: After the Great Oil Wars of the 21st century the world lay in ruins. Oilfields burned out of control for decades. What hadn't been destroyed by warfare was choked by smoke. Thick oily smoke hung over the planet, choking seas, rivers and plants, making life almost impossible. Of those who survived the war most died of disease and starvation in a world reduced to wasteland. Technology was just about destroyed. The world had been set back thousands of years.
Yet, scattered far and wide, a few people survived, formed themselves into new communities and found ways of living in this new bleak world. One such was the Celtic Alliance in the far north and west of what used to be known as Britain.
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
The Elders say the islanders survived because they were the Chosen People and so have to live righteously and have nothing to do with sinful outsiders. Life is a strict regime of work and prayer. Books - unless about diseases in chickens - have been burned, musical instruments smashed, make-up and mirrors are the toys of the Devil. And don't even think about dancing...
Girls have little education but must have as many babies as possible to repopulate the world. Amity needs to get out soon.
Inspired by tales told by her rebellious great grandmother, she knows there must be more. When Fin gets the chance to get away he promises to come back for Amity so they can escape for ever together.
But when he returns he seems a changed person, stricter even than the Elders. Amity, baffled and heartbroken, makes her own plans to escape.
Historical Note: After the Great Oil Wars of the 21st century the world lay in ruins. Oilfields burned out of control for decades. What hadn't been destroyed by warfare was choked by smoke. Thick oily smoke hung over the planet, choking seas, rivers and plants, making life almost impossible. Of those who survived the war most died of disease and starvation in a world reduced to wasteland. Technology was just about destroyed. The world had been set back thousands of years.
Yet, scattered far and wide, a few people survived, formed themselves into new communities and found ways of living in this new bleak world. One such was the Celtic Alliance in the far north and west of what used to be known as Britain.
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Used availability for Sharon Griffiths's Amity and the Angel