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Emma — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What would you choose – a beautiful untrue life, or a broken true one?

Hal is living a fairy tale – almost. Thanks to tech genius Francis Knox and her company’s pioneering work building the perfect World 2.0, the universe is available at a swipe, and Hal has everything she wants. (Except for her family, which fell apart after her dad’s disappearance years ago.)

Except, perhaps, winning the notoriously competitive Knox Cup. That’s a dream even World 2.0 can’t fulfil, not when Hal doesn’t have the funds to enter.

Then out of the blue Hal’s guardian challenges her to prove herself, arranging for Hal to compete. It’s an opportunity she can’t waste. If she wins, she’ll meet Francis Knox herself – then all of Hal’s deepest, secret wishes might really come true. But as the competition progresses, Hal discovers decay hidden beneath the world’s perfect veneer – and, as the cracks begin to grow, she is forced to make a choice about what it is she truly wants.

HUNGER GAMES meets BLACK MIRROR – a speculative YA thriller, tackling themes of technology and power dynamics, for fans of Malorie Blackman, Louise O’Neill, READY PLAYER ONE and THE UPPER WORLD.

The boy I am

Emma — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

They say we’re dangerous. But we’re not that different.

Jude is running out of time. Once a year, lucky young men in the House of Boys are auctioned to the female elite. But if Jude fails to be selected before he turns seventeen, a future deep underground in the mines awaits.

Yet ever since the death of his best friend at the hands of the all-powerful Chancellor, Jude has been desperate to escape the path set out for him. Finding himself entangled in a plot to assassinate the Chancellor, he finally has a chance to avenge his friend and win his freedom. But at what price?

A speculative YA thriller, tackling themes of traditional gender roles and power dynamics, for fans of Malorie Blackman, Louise O’Neill and THE POWER.

“Brutal, uncompromising and edge-of-your-seat action all the way through” - Alex Bell, author of FROZEN CHARLOTTE

“The best kind of up-all-night dystopian YA, thought-provoking, different and above all, an extraordinarily exciting story, whose main character, Jude, will stay with me for a very long time” Lucy Coats

“It’s a gutsy, intelligent, tension-building tale. A bit Handmaid’s Tale, a bit Mad Max, and a creature all its own.” Sinead O’Hart, author of THE EYE OF THE NORTH

“Mind blowingly good. Love it. It’s going to get readers thinking.” Dr Vanessa Harbour

“A dark, thought-provoking dystopian that is gorgeously written too” Amy McCaw, author of MINA AND THE UNDEAD

“It’s so gripping and tense and thought-provoking” Ben Oliver, author of THE LOOP

Kettle, K. L – The Bell Bookshop

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The boy I am