Runners

In a not too distant future in which the oceans have risen and resources are scarce, 14 year-old Sid is trying to keep himself and his five year-old sister Lo safe from harm.

Sid and Lo managed to escape from the ‘reducers’ who took their parents, but now they are ‘runners’, travelling on foot in search of their grandparents. They haven’t seen them for years and all they know about them is that they live in Cornwall in a town that has a z in its name. But trusting no-one, they must stay hidden from view, venturing out only to scavenge for food.

Ann Kelley describes a bleak future, but sparks of kindness and humanity still shine through - in the sibling bond between Sid and Lo, and in the people they meet along the way, who are prepared to risk their lives to help them. Runners is a gripping, and in parts disturbing read; even more so when you consider the society it describes is not so far removed from our own.