First published 1991
Dilar has spent his entire life with the Raft People, floating endlessly through dark underground tunnels. His grandfather promises they travel toward the Better Place, but Dilar grows convinced they drift without purpose, following the black river to nowhere. One night he makes a desperate choice. He leaps from his raft onto a rocky ledge and watches his people vanish into the darkness. Alone for the first time, Dilar climbs upward through stone passages until he breaks through to the surface world. What he finds overwhelms him. Sunlight blinds his cave-adapted eyes. Trees stretch toward an endless blue sky. The beauty strikes him so powerfully he wonders if he has died and entered another realm entirely. Now Dilar must navigate this strange new world of day and light, leaving behind everything he has ever known.
Genres: fiction, adventure, coming-of-age, fantasy
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Better Place, Raft People
Period: Entire Life
128 pages · Paperback · Trumpet