TWIN BOYS Esper and Starn live in a grim world which has been almost laid waste by massive volcanic explosions. Very little grows in Orchard, which used to be a fruit-growing area, and the birds and insects are fast dying out.
This is the setting for Gold, the new dystopian future/classic adventure book for children aged nine+, by the acclaimed Galway author Geraldine Mills, with a cover design by Lauren O’Neill, and published by Little Island Books. Patricia Forde, author of The Wordsmith, has called it, "A mile a minute adventure story. Wildly inventive and imaginative."
When Esper and Starn discover an old manuscript in a locked room in their apartment, telling of gold on one of the forbidden islands they can see from the coastline, they determine to go on a gold-hunt. They construct a glider which takes them far from home, traveling from island to island in search of gold.
Speaking about the inspiration for the book, Geraldine said: "Watching the Connemara landscape and knowing how easily it can all be destroyed, I wondered how we, as a race, would survive some environmental disaster or other. I had carried the image of the two boys around with me for many years and once the image of them in pollination suits came alive for me, ‘what if,’ kicked in."
Gold will be launched in Dubray Books this evening at 6pm. Geraldine will read from the book and the guest speaker will be writer Alan McMonagle. All are welcome.
