Best of All Worlds

Thirteen-year-old Xavier “Zay” Oak is on a weekend trip to a vacation cottage outside Montreal with his father and his pregnant stepmother when he notices that everything he thought he knew about the area has changed. The familiar nearby lake is gone, and in its place are a red barn, a pasture filled with goats, a cornfield, and other crops. As Zay and his parents investigate, they realize they’re alone and, further into the countryside, they discover an invisible wall, which seems to be part of a transparent, apparently indestructible dome. Failed attempts to escape the dome lead the trio to instead focus on survival. Three years later, another family appears: Tennessee teenager Mackenzie Jackson, her younger sister, and their parents. Zay is initially thrilled to meet someone his age—especially someone as pretty as Mackenzie—until Mackenzie’s father reveals himself to be a dangerous man with even more terrifying ideals. Oppel (Ghostlight) centers a persistent and intelligent protagonist in this unassuming but riveting novel. Compact yet brimming with tense atmosphere, it’s a sharp examination of society and isolation presented as a thriller set in a deceptively bucolic landscape. All characters cue as white save Zay’s Haitian Canadian stepmother. Ages 12–up. (June)