by Emma Sloley
First published 2025
Camille works as a zookeeper on Alcatraz Island, home to the planet's last zoo. She cares for chimpanzees, tree frogs, and a jaguar while resistance groups and cartels battle outside. Her ordered world shifts when Sailor, a new keeper from Paris, arrives and recognizes something special in Camille. The two women connect over their work and begin imagining different futures together. Sailor tells Camille about a hidden sanctuary where animals live wild and free. As the zoo's restrictions frustrate Sailor, she develops a dangerous scheme to smuggle a valuable animal to this refuge. She asks Camille to help her. The plan carries enormous risks, and Sailor's sanctuary contacts stop responding just as cartel threats intensify. Camille faces a choice between her safe routines and the possibility of a transformed world with Sailor.
Genres: dystopia, romance, literary-fiction, contemporary, adult-fiction, environmental-science
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, lyrical, tension-filled, thought-provoking
Tropes: forced-proximity, found-family, friends-to-lovers, slow-burn
Setting: Alcatraz Island, Paris
272 pages · Paperback · Flatiron Books
Content warnings: animal-death, violence