Jan Mark Knihy

Starved, sun-scorched, and dangerously dehydrated Demetria is barely recognizable as human when she is rescued from the ocean. Having risked everything to escape her oppressive life on High Island she desperately hopes she is finally free. But the world beyond the island is even more terrifying; here people are condemned for their beliefs and castaways like Demetria are accused of being enemy spies. Snatched first by the government who want to interrogate her, then `rescued` by the resistance, Demetria fears she will never be free. But as she learns about the political situation, about those who go `missing` and those forced into exile, Demetria begins to understand that there are more important things to fight for than her own freedom...

Jane has a cat called Furlong, who walks to school with her every day. When William, the new boy, causes a division in the class and threatens Jane with violence, it seems the only way she can escape is to take Furlong's secret path home, along the wall and into the unknown.

This is the story of friendship between children of different races. Jan Mark has twice won the Carnegie Medal and has also won "The Guardian" Award, the "Observer" Teenage Fiction Prize and the Angel Award for Fiction. Her books include "Thunder and Lightenings" and "The Dead Letter Box".