Above

by Isla Morley

Overview

I am a secret no one is able to tell.

Blythe Hallowell is sixteen when she is abducted by a survivalist and locked away in an aban­doned missile silo in Eudora, Kansas. At first, she focuses frantically on finding a way out, until the harrowing truth of her new existence settles in—the crushing loneliness, the terrifying madness of a captor who believes he is saving her from the end of the world, and the persistent temptation to give up. But nothing prepares Blythe for the burden of raising a child in confinement. Deter­mined to give the boy everything she has lost, she pushes aside the truth about a world he may never see for a myth that just might give mean­ing to their lives below ground. Years later, their lives are ambushed by an event at once promis­ing and devastating. As Blythe’s dream of going home hangs in the balance, she faces the ultimate choice—between survival and freedom.

Above is a riveting tale of resilience in which “stunning” (Daily Beast) new literary voice Isla Morley compels us to imagine what we would do if everything we had ever known was taken away. Like the bestselling authors of Room and The Lovely Bones before her, Morley explores the unthinkable with haunting detail and tenderly depicts our boundless capacity for hope.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476735641
Publisher:	Gallery Books
Publication date:	03/04/2014
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	395,311
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Isla Morley grew up in South Africa during apartheid, the child of a British father and fourth-generation South African mother. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband (a minister) and daughter and an assortment of animals. Her debut novel, Come Sunday, was awarded the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for Fiction in 2009 and was a finalist for the Commonwealth Prize. It has been translated into seven languages.

Editorial Reviews

02/15/2014
Blythe Hallowell is 16 when she's abducted by school librarian Dobbs Hordin, a survivalist who believes the apocalypse is imminent. Dobbs hides Blythe in an abandoned missile silo where they will ride out the end of the world, emerge, and restart the human race. As the years pass, Blythe must learn to cope with the crushing loneliness that comes as Dobbs leaves to gather supplies and she is left alone for days and weeks at a time. After her son, Adam, is born, she seems to give up on escaping and focuses on teaching her son about a world he's only seen in books. After 17 years of captivity, Blythe and Adam reenter a world that has changed more than either of them could ever have imagined. VERDICT Morley (Come Sunday) tells a compelling story that builds suspense. While the truth of Dobbs's predictions may not surprise all readers, Morley's vision of a postapocalyptic Kansas is haunting enough to make for a true page-turner. Half abduction story (like Emma Donoghue's Room), half dystopian fiction, this novel will appeal to fans of both. [Library marketing.]—Portia Kapraun, Monticello-Union Twp. P.L., IN

Library Journal