by Pete Hautman
First published 2015
Jacob has spent his seventeen years inside Nodd, twelve square miles of fenced paradise where the Grace await salvation from the coming Apocalypse. The Archangel Zerachiel will descend from Heaven to spare only the faithful from destruction. The World beyond their eight-foot chain-link barrier remains forbidden, wicked, doomed. Then cracks appear in Jacob's certainty. A wolf breaks into Nodd and kills their sheep. An outsider boy arrives with contempt for their beliefs. While patrolling the fence line, Jacob encounters Lynna, a ranch girl from the other side. She offers him tastes of the forbidden World that both terrify and attract him. As Jacob's feelings for Lynna deepen, his devotion to the Grace wavers. The End Days approach, but Jacob must choose between the only life he has known and a love that challenges everything he believes. His faith, his community, and his understanding of reality hang in the balance.
Genres: christian-fiction, coming-of-age, fantasy, contemporary, apocalyptic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water, forbidden-romance
Setting: Nodd, The World
Period: End Days
320 pages · Hardcover · Candlewick Press