The date is 2067. Society is now divided into two (or maybe four groups) - there are the corrupt rulers called Supas with family names like Murdoch and Nabisco, the Workers who are named for the tasks they perform such as Sacks, one of the two main characters in this story, there are also Rebels and Outsiders.
The Workers are controlled through drugs that are added to their food:
"No one needed to be told about Meal One or Two. Your body did that for you. Every morning you woke up wanting that fat straw in your mouth, and until you got it you felt very bad."
"Product helps Workers. It keeps them happy. Keeps their minds free of worry, of thoughts that might get in the way of their desire to work. And of course it makes them unwilling to leave their Stations."
Workers are also controlled via media propaganda. Meal Two works to calm the down and put them to sleep but before this Workers watch tv. The messages on tv are filled with the dream of Planet Home. They have been told there is another planet, life on this one where they live exist now is dangerous and toxic. Sacks does not even know words like bird or buffalo. Workers are told one day everyone will climb onto space rockets and they will be taken to Planet Home.
Supas "they were the richest, most powerful families. They had resources to build crystal domes to protect their Cities and grow food inside vast buildings. Stations. But they needed workers to grow their food and run their Cities - building, mending, cleaning. All the things Supas didn't want to do. So they offered ordinary people a choice: stay Outside and take your chances with the poisoned world or become a Worker."
The actual setting of this book is several hundred miles from Manhattan. The city is filled with disgusting refuse. The Supas live in the top floors of the badly damaged city towers.
As this story opens rebels attack. Sacks escapes and so does a young Supa named Nero Nabisco. The race is now on for survival and to expose the corruption and overthrow the leaders and find a way to free the workers. Along the way Sacks and Nero also discover their own heritage, identity and most amazing of all they discover they are connected -they are twins.
Take a look at the labels I have added to this post - these will give you an idea about some of the themes.
There are graphically described battles in this book and horrible descriptions of battery chickens called Units so I will only recommend this book to mature readers aged 11+ especially if they enjoy Science Fiction or dystopian stories. Readers in Australia will not identify with the Native American culture that is explored in this story - it is a minor theme but one that added an interesting layer to the story for me. I do enjoy books which explore corruption and coercion and brainwashing (such as in cults) but clearly these are deep ideas suitable for mature readers. The prologue to Home is chilling.
Companion books (many of these could have the label Post Apocalyptic):
How did I miss this book from 2005? I wonder how it came to be in the library where I have been working as a volunteer? I told a bookseller in a shop the other day that I am a huge fan of dystopian middle grade books - Home is a perfect example. Home was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award. I wonder if IBBY UK have considered nominating Nicola Davies for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. Her body of work is SO impressive - from non fiction to picture books to complex novels like Home. Wikipedia have a list here of all her books up until 2023. Here is a 2021 interview where Nicola Davies talks about animals and non fiction and climate change.
Bookseller blurb: Thrilling futuristic science fiction with an environmental slant. It's 2067 and the world has become virtually uninhabitable with all the pollution and toxins created by mankind. Ruling classes live holed up in the cities and workers live in Stations, safe from the outside world. But one day Station 27 is taken over by rebels. Nero, from the ruling classes, and Sacks, a worker, find themselves thrown together as they're captured by the rebels, their common enemy. As they begin to discover the terrifying truth about their world, the two children get separated and find themselves in great danger. Will they find each other before it is too late?
Listen to an audio sample here. This sample is a perfect introduction to this book - you could use it in a book talk with your library group of readers aged 11+.
Here are some other books by Nicola Davies which show the breadth and depth of her writing:
