The Color of Rain

McCarthy's bleak debut novel delivers readers into Earth City, "the most forgotten planet in the universe," where Rain White and her 12-year-old brother, Walker, are orphaned. Lo, a prostitute, takes them under her wing and encourages Rain to sell her body to avoid scrambling for survival. Walker is also infected with a disease that decays the mind; Rain's desperation is heightened by the fear that police will discover Walker's condition and send him away with the rest of the "Touched." On this lawless future Earth, power falls to those who can readily escape the planet%E2%80%94like Johnny, an attractive starship captain who offers to transport Rain and Walker to a region called "the Edge," where an alleged cure for Walker's condition awaits. However, Johnny's assistance comes at a cost: his personal possession of Rain. McCarthy's poetic language glows throughout her descriptions of a desolate and melancholy universe. Psychological and physical torture, gruesome deaths, and sexual slavery create a dense, claustrophobic narrative that may require even mature readers to come up for air. Ages 13%E2%80%93up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary Agency. (May)