After the Ashes

Joiner uses the devastating 1883 eruption of the volcano Krakatau as the basis of her first book. When readers meet 13-year-old Katrien Courtlandt, she is writing an admiring letter to Charles Darwin from her home in Java, where she has just finished reading On the Origin of Species. In her spare time, she collects beetles to contribute to his research, but her father and aunt—believing she has become too unladylike and unsociable—limit her time in the jungle, try to teach her how to run a household, and encourage her to spend time with a “polite and kind” girl named Brigitta, rather than her native friend Slamet. When Krakatau erupts, ash fall and tsunamis wipe out the majority of the population of Katrien’s town, claiming the lives of many close to her; Katrien and Brigitta form a reluctant partnership, which transforms into a friendship. Joiner’s story is slow to start, but once the eruption and its aftermath are underway, it shifts into a breakneck, and often heartbreaking, coming-of-age survival story. Ages 10–up. Agent: Carrie Pestritto, Prospect Agency. (Oct.)