Because of global warming, Wing is almost submerged. Mara persuades her family and neighbors to leave their island for one of the “New World sky cities” (54). But, her family is drowned on the way. There is a boat refugee camp outside the city wall to keep newcomers out, but an urchin boy gets Mara beyond the wall, where she stays with the “Treenesters” who live under the city’s towers. With the help of the “fox” she meets in cyber world, who shuts down the city’s communications, Mara rescues her friends and the city’s slaves, then commandeers ships to sail to Greenland. The sequel, Zenith, was published in the United States in 2009. 2002 Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year Award Shortlist. hc

Originally pub lished by Young Picador, an imprint of Pan Macmillan Great Britain, in 2002.