Newman, S: Country of Ice Cream Star

In the ruins of a future America, fifteen-year-old Ice Cream Star and her nomadic tribe live off the detritus of a fallen civilization. Theirs is a world of children; before reaching the age of twenty, they all die of a disease they call Posies?a plague that has killed for generations.When her brother begins showing signs of the disease, Ice Cream Star sets off to find a cure. Led by a captured prisoner who becomes her devoted protector and friend, she travels hundreds of miles across treacherous territory, fighting to protect the only world she has ever known.Written in a lyrical, inventive patois, The Country of Ice Cream Star is a postapocalyptic literary epic as imaginative as The Passage and as ambitious as Cloud Atlas. This is a breathtaking work from a writer of rare and unconventional talent.?Builds towards a powerful, horrifying, and beautifully written climax, one that's epic in scope but also feels intensely personal.? ?New York Times Book Review?Blends elements of American history, popular culture, and political allegory with romance and thriller pacing. This suspenseful, provocative tale is The Hunger Games meets Lord of the Flies and The Walking Dead, only much, much better.? ?Booklist?Ice Cream's language is as potent and earthy as Chaucerian vernacular. . . . One begins to think in this dialect; it is as sweet and addictive as Ice Cream herself.? ?Globe and Mail (Toronto)