‘Vibrant and evocative’ Stylist Imagine an alternative England, where the Church controls the country and non-believers have been exiled to a remote island. On the Island, a fierce group of boys patrols the community, searching for signs of faith and punishing any believers. When a new girl appears, arriving from the mainland to search for her long-lost mother, the gang is split: one boy falls in love with her, another seeks violent revenge. The struggle between them will change everything. ‘The comforts of faith, the terrors of extremism, the loneliness of not believing anything at all: these are the aggressively modern tensions that pierce Wood’s novel . . . richly conceived’ Metro ‘A gripping, well-crafted tale . . . impressive’ Observer