Winner of the Older Fiction category of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and of the Branford Boase Award

'An extraordinary dystopian novel... compelling and original' Sunday Times, Book of the Year

'One of the most vivid, tough, bold and gripping books I've read in a long time' Katherine Rundell, author of Impossible Creatures

'A dazzling fable of oppression and hope' Financial Times, Books of the Year

Life in Bearmouth is one of hard labour, the sunlit world above the mine a distant memory. Reward will come in the next life with the benevolence of the Mayker.

Newt accepts everything - that is, until the mysterious Devlin arrives. Suddenly, Newt starts to look at Bearmouth with a fresh perspective, questioning the system, and setting in motion a chain of events that could destroy their entire world.