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Abby Leigh recently moved to an island off the coast of Maine with her dad, twelve-year-old brother, and baby sister, Toucan. She can’t wait to visit friends on the mainland during seventh-grade spring break.
The evening before her departure, she settles next to her dad to watch the celestial event of the century. Astronomers have predicted that Earth will pass through the tail of a comet. They say people will see colorful sunsets and, best of all, a purple moon. The comet delivers.
At midnight Abby kisses Dad goodnight, unaware of the terrifying scenes she’ll face in the morning.
Space dust from the comet contains bacteria that attack the human hormones responsible for puberty. Older teens and adults die within hours of exposure. The only adults to survive the lightning-fast epidemic are quarantined scientists and submariners.
Abby awakens to a classmate banging on the door, sees a truck crashed, and finds her sister squawking for breakfast. She soon discovers why Dad hasn’t fed Toucan.
The police do not respond, phones don’t work, there’s no television. . . The kids begin to grasp the magnitude of the catastrophe. Before the internet fails, they learn about an emergency broadcast channel operated by the Centers for Disease Control.
Abby struggles to care for her siblings, organize the survivors into a community, and avoid the violence plaguing the mainland.
The scientists race to develop a cure, but encounter setbacks. Meanwhile, the time bomb of puberty ticks louder the older Abby gets.
By the time the antibiotic pills become available in Boston one year later, she and her brother are both deathly ill. Abby knows their only hope for survival is to make the dangerous journey together.
Genre: FICTION / Science Fiction / Apocalyptic & Post-ApocalypticRatings: Amazon US 450/4.4 stars; Amazon UK: 33/4.4 stars; itunes 4.5 stars, B&N 4.5 stars; Goodreads: 694 ratings/3.80 stars/235 reviews.
Sample blog reviews:
"Cramer creates a picture of our world that's both frightening and inspiring in this heartfelt story that both young adults and adults can enjoy.A heartwarming but not overly sentimental story of survival." KIRKUS REVIEWS
"Outrageous and completely 'out of the box'." MY HOME AWAY FROM HOME review blog
"Three words: Gripping. Palpable. Well-developed." WORD SPELUNKING review blog
"After reading this book, I am simply speechless." I BLOG, YOU READ review blog
"Strong recommendation!" YA YEAH YEAH review blog
DAY 1 – THE COMET
Thick fog rolled in and swallowed Abby whole. Unable to see her outstretched hand, she clenched her jaw to stop her teeth from chattering. Homichlophobia — fear of fog. Millions had the phobia, but how many of them lived in the fog capital of the universe?
“Abby.”
Her father’s voice sounded far away. He’d been next to her a moment ago. She reached for him and grabbed damp air. A chill rippled through her and she started flailing her arms.
A hand pressed down on her shoulder. “Hey, sleepy.”
Abby opened her eyes and blinked at the silhouette, tall and lean with a curly mop of brown hair. “Dad!”
“Swimming somewhere?”
“Yeah, Cambridge.” Abby always found a way to let her dad know how she felt about moving from the city in Massachusetts where she had grown up—where her friends still lived—to a small island twenty miles off the coast of Maine. Her mom also shared part of the blame for going along with his crazy idea to move here.
“Tonight’s the night!” he said with a gleam in his eye and headed off to wake up her twelve-year-old brother Jordan.
“A purple moon?” she called out. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Abby sat up in bed, still shaken by her dream. Just then the long blast of a horn signaled the 7 a.m. ferry arriving from the mainland. She had to hurry to get in the shower first.
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Finnish
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Already translated.
Translated by Miia Heinonen
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Author review: Great translator. A joy to work with. |
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Greek
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Translation in progress.
Translated by Gabriella Kourtidou and Anna Vanti
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by Laura Tosi
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Eduardo Ferrer
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Author review: Eduardo Ferrer was outstanding! |
