• Age: 13 to 17
• Grade: 7 to 12

This future history of the next thirty years, imagined by bestselling author Thomas Harding, is a compelling and startling call to action.

In 2020, a researcher is shocked to find a set of notebooks detailing the history of the next thirty years. Is this a hoax? Or could it be real?

The notebooks, written in the year 2050, contain interview transcripts between teenage Billy and Gran Nancy. We learn about the great climate SHOCK, when global temperatures rise much faster than anticipated, resulting in catastrophic consequences for humanity. We learn about a shift away from democracy, toward unelected “ethnarchs” — heads of corporations who use their access to our personal data to competently run the world. We learn about the giant city towers where most people live, work and play inside — where it's safe from natural disasters and viral outbreaks.

And between these interviews, we learn more about Billy, whose interest in the history that has been erased from the official record is causing trouble in 2050. Is it too late to change the past to save the future?

Key Text Feature

glossary

THOMAS HARDING is a bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than sixteen languages. He is the author of Hanns and Rudolf, which won the JQ-Wingate Prize for Non-Fiction; The House by the Lake, which was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award, and which was adapted into a picture book; and Blood on the Page, which won the Crime Writers’ Association Golden Dagger Award for Non-Fiction. Thomas lives in Hampshire, England.

Thomas Harding's profile page

[This] book will cause plenty of discussion among thoughtful teens.

Winnipeg Free Press

A compelling look at a future world.

CM: Canadian Review of Materials