Overview

We discover a new species of life form every day. But, every day, a species also disappears. The fly has 10 chromosomes, the hamster 22, the rat 42, the human 46, the chimpanzee 48, the cow 60, and the butterfly 380. London, 1881. There's something a little eerie about Manon--she's not like the other girls at the orphanage. Maybe it's her red eyes. Maybe it's her silence. Maybe it's the series of violent deaths that seem to follow her. What we do know: someone is hot on her tail. And there's a lot of money at stake in finding out where exactly she comes from--and what exactly she is. Concurrent to Manon's story are letters to Charles Darwin from Professor Humphrey, a scientist who has recently died under mysterious circumstances. Is it true that natural selection left humans at the top of the pyramid of life after all? Or in the process of evolution, was there something elemental that humans lost, something that connected us to the rest of life on earth? Who and what else is out there? In order to stay alive, Manon must untangle the mystery of her origins, and perhaps the origins of humanity as well. From French writer Alice Brière-Haquet and translated by PEN Award-winning translator Emma Ramadan comes this middle-grade historical sci-fi thriller you won't be able to pause.

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9781705081501

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Reviews

"""A luminous eco-fable wrapped in an immersive, propulsive tale."" -- ""Foreword Reviews (starred review)"" ""A novel of ideas cloaked in skulduggery and populated with textbook villains...an environmental message pertinent to the present."" -- ""Horn Book"" ""Brière-Haquet is fiendishly clever at looping subplots and timing clues in both the thriller and science plotlines."" -- ""Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)"" ""Sophie Amoss gives her all as she performs this middle-grade fantasy thriller with style and heart...The wide range of characters exhibits deep development on the part of Amoss...An exceptional passage not to be missed features the multiple voicings of the caged animals in a research lab. Award. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."" -- ""AudioFile"""

Author Information

Delphine Minoui, a recipient of the Albert Londres Prize for her reporting on Iraq and Iran, is a journalist and Middle East correspondent for Le Figaro. Born in Paris in 1974 to a French mother and an Iranian father, she now lives in Istanbul. Emma Ramadan lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where she is the co-owner of Riffraff bookstore and bar. She is the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship, an NEA fellowship, and a PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant. Previous translations include the genderless novel Sphinx by Anne Garréta. Sophie Amoss is a voiceover artist and Earphones Award-winning audiobook narrator. She has lent her talents to brands such as AirWick, ExxonMobil, Olay, and Microsoft. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, she went on to receive her master's degree in acting from Columbia University. Originally from New Orleans, she currently resides in New York.

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