A miracle of a novel... a book you will remember for the rest of
your life.

The most exciting book I've read all year.

Exodus and Zenith are like two chapters in some magnificent epic.

An ambitious, futuristic, environmental wake-up call.

Intellectually rigorous and bursting with humanity, this is a book
to read again and again.

It is 2099 - and the world is gradually drowning, as mighty Arctic ice floes melt, the seas rise, and land disappears forever beneath storm-tossed waves. For 15-year-old Mara, her family and community, huddled on the fast-disappearing island of Wing, the new century brings flight. Packed into tiny boats, a terrifying journey begins to a bizarre city that rises into the sky, built on the drowned remains of the ancient city of Glasgow. But even here there is no safety and, shut out of the city, Mara realizes they are asylum-seekers in a world torn between high-tech wizardry and the most primitive injustice. To save her people, Mara must not only find a way into the city but also search for a new land and a new home...

The stories that spark my imagination are about individuals
on the edge, on the cusp of change. I always begin with a stong sense of
landscape, or place. Exodus, and its sequel Zenith, are stories of an
imagined future but they are rooted in the here and now. In 1999, before
global warming hit the headlines, I read a heartbreaking snippet in a
newspaper about drowning islands in the South Pacific. To this day, the
world has ignored that cry for help from islanders at the mercy of rising
seas, but their plight haunted my imagination and inspired me to write the
story of a lost people searching for a new life in a devastated world. Now
global warming is, literally, the hottest topic of our time. It has gone
from a newspaper snippet to front page news. Exodus brought a passionate
response from readers who said they were gripped by a story that made them
stop and wonder about the future of human life on Earth.

As the waters rise, the old world is lost. But a new world waits
to be found...

In a desperate bid for survival, Mara and her people set sail in the
ultimate exodus. But Mara's quest will become something even greater - a
journey into humanity's capacity for good and evil. And a heart-wrenching
story of love and loss...

Julie Bertagna has quickly established a reputation as an author
of powerful and original fiction for young people. Award-winning bestseller
Exodus was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize and awarded an Eco Prize for
Creativity. A sequel, Zenith, continues the stunning story begun in Exodus.
The third part of this epic story is soon to follow.

Early next morning Mara is torn from sleep by the dull clang of
Wing's church bell. She rips back her bedclothes and rushes downstairs.
Outside, the world is calm at last, the sea and sky a misty blue. But Mara
stops in shock and stares around her.

All that remains of Wing is its central peak. The higher farms and the
upper reaches of the village are safe but beyond that, as far as she can
see, there is only ocean. Nothing else. A few blades rotate above the waves
- all that's left of the field of windmills.

Mara grips her father's hand as they face the impossible truth. All the
islands in the north are gone.

2008-04-22 Courtesy of Teens Read Too

What if everything you've heard about global warming is true -- and we haven't done enough to change the course of events?

Mara is a fifteen-year-old girl who lives on the island of Wing. The polar ice caps are melting, flooding most of the earth. What is left of Mara's primitive island is rapidly being claimed by the rising tide. Among the ruins of an abandoned cyberworld Mara meets another, someone who promises her that there is a safe haven in the New World.

Mara convinces the people of her island that their only chance for survival is to sail north, where the sky cities can provide shelter against the rising storms and tides. However, they arrive to find that walls have been built around the city and that they are just a few of the refugees who are gathered around, hoping for entry. Life in the boat camp is a grim existence. Illness, hunger and death have penetrated the lives of Mara's group. Overwhelmed with guilt, Mara sets out to find a way to save her friends.

With a little help, Mara makes her way inside the gates and sets about to infiltrate the New World city of New Mungo. How can one girl face such insurmountable odds and save her people against a formidable adversary? Can she really take on an entire city to save her friends? If only she could find her cyberworld acquaintance, maybe he could help Mara.

EXODUS is a sobering reminder of the future we face if global warming is allowed to continue unchallenged. Julie Bertagna has presented a somber picture of what life may be like in the year 2099. She has balanced desperation with the enduring power of hope. When humans have hope, no challenge seems too difficult to face. The stark subject of the story is balanced with a fluid writing style that keeps you turning the pages and hoping for the best. EXODUS is already an international best seller and is being released to US readers in April 2008.

This is one of those stories that will stay with you forever.

Reviewed by: JodiG.