City of Beasts

After a nuclear event leaves the world in ruins, the women (“fees”) of Buffalo gather for safety and form a women’s-only community on an isolated island. Glori, granddaughter of the community’s founder, is part of the last generation of children born before radiation caused widespread sterility. Though she has been raised to fear and protect herself against the male “beasts” across the water, she has a soft spot for her little brother, Twofer, born under mysterious circumstances and kept a secret. When the beasts take him, she sets off to bring him back, encountering some men who are just as bad as she expected. But she also finds kindness and generosity, especially from Sway, the boy who becomes her guide to the world outside her island, and together they discover that people of all genders are capable of monstrous acts as well as comfort and kindness. As Glori and Sway grow closer, they begin to imagine their city united, but first they’ll have to foil a plot to kill every beast in Buffalo. A page-turning dystopian novel that explores the divisions that differences can engender and the things that can, sometimes, mend them. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sarah Burnes, the Gernert Company. [em](Sept.) [/em]