''An exceptional debut'' Sunday Telegraph

''Obsessed with The Handmaid''s Tale? This brilliant book is the one for you'' Stylist

''An intriguing, gorgeously realised and written novel which inexorably draws you into its dark heart'' Kate Hamer

On a small isolated island, there''s a community that lives by its own rules. Boys grow up knowing they will one day take charge, while girls know they will be married and pregnant within moments of hitting womanhood.

But before that time comes, a ritual offers children an exhilarating reprieve. Every summer they are turned out onto their doorsteps, to roam the island, sleep on the beach and build camps in trees. To be free.

At the end of one of such summer, one of the younger girls sees something she was never supposed to see. And she returns home with a truth that could bring their island world to its knees.

''A skilful novel full of suspense'' Guardian

''It''s a richly envisioned world, the strange isolation of which Melamed is excellent at teasing out slowly'' Independent