A Line You Have Traced

A best science fiction, fantasy and horror pick from The Guardian

‘A haunting and magnificent new voice.’ Sam J. Miller, author of Blackfish City

‘We can fix what we have done. We can undo the mistakes our ancestors made. We can set right what has been done wrong... You are the first step.’

In a silverware shop, a young wife works alongside her husband. Amid growing political turmoil, Bea finds solace in the local marsh, where she is visited recurrently by a mysterious presence, logging each appearance carefully in a scarlet journal. In a time like now, Kay navigates friendship, queerness and the temporary job market, whilst contemplating the significance of her life in a world with such an uncertain future. At her grandmother’s house she finds an intriguing record of an angel’s visits. A hundred years into the future, outsiders have banded together to live off-grid away from a corrupt government and a city wracked by oppression and climate change. When Ess is chosen for a virgin mission, a journey into the past to save the present, she is guided only by a well-thumbed red notebook… Set against the shifting landscape of East London marshes and expanding over three centuries, this is the breathtaking, urgent story of three women separated by history but threaded together by unknown forces.  ‘An inventive, ambitious novel.’ Chris Power, author of A Lonely Man ‘A gloriously innovative, endlessly surprising gut punch of a novel.’ Rebecca Tamás, author of Witch