She had made me envious. Strange as it might seem, I had not known envy before. Surely there must be other ways of living, I thought, not hand-to-mouth, alone, in a draughty old shack looking out at the same scene, day after day. Was this to be my future? It's 2137, and the future's dark. Sixteen-year-old Flora is scraping out a humble living, selling homegrown supplies from her late grandparents' run-down Shell Shack and keeping her illegal copy of Pride and Prejudice hidden from the terrifying Uzi soldiers. But Flora's life changes when she meets Li-li, the daughter of a powerful Rice Lord. Flora is seduced by the lavish lifestyle of her rulers, but also sees the brutality that underpins their lifestyle. What choices will she face on her last days in Eden? An innocent adrift in a world ripped apart by greed and want…The year is 2137, but the people of Eden are reduced to living in medieval fashion. The human race is deeply divided and the world has been brought to its knees by the Oil Wars and rising sea levels. Flora is trying to hold on to her humanity as her world changes forever. Costa Award winning author Ann Kelley's disturbing vision of the future has much to say about our own times. It's a disturbing, compulsive read that makes you realise that not so very much needs to shift for this to happen here. HELEN DUNMORE on Runners The author as artist evokes people and places with delicacy, humour and truth — a novel of outstanding beauty. COSTA AWARD JUDGES on The Bower Bird
