Imagine getting a letter like the one they sent me. Wait, delete that. Don¹t imagine it’s just cut it up, okay? Big scissors. Chop, chop, chop.

But 18-year-old city girl, Zillah, just finished school, pushes fear aside and jumps track. She abandons her safe summer holiday plans, and takes the train to the wild West Coast. Her destination: an empty shack on a dangerous tidal river. Here she meets the authors of the letter, Joss and Hep, a mysterious brother and sister who seem to belong to another more primitive world.

Together, they wield a power over Zillah that she barely understands. Disturbing events begin to cluster around them and even the elements appear to be turning against Zillah. A powerful and compelling story of one young woman ¹s awakening to questions of life, death and her own reason for being.

Quotes Todd writes lovely prose, illuminated by precise, consistent imagery. New Books Penelope Todd is one of my favorite emerging NZ writers for young adults. Kate De Goldi, National Radio