The sequel to Claire Zorn’s acclaimed YA debut The Sky So Heavy is finally here.

Instinct has kept us alive so far. It’s like a compass and I tune in to the needle often: trust/don’t trust, run/stay … I can’t read the needle right now. The warmth of the room is clouding my judgment.

In the midst of a nuclear winter, Lucy, Fin and Max flee the chaos of Sydney with blood on their clothes, a gun and handwritten directions to safety. When they reach Wattlewood, it seems like their struggle to survive might be over. There is food, warmth and adults in charge. So why can’t Lucy shake the feeling they’re still in danger?

Lucy’s survived the apocalypse, but can she escape a more insidious threat?

Claire Zorn burst onto the Australian YA scene in 2013 with her gripping dystopian novel, The Sky So Heavy. This debut went on to be a 2014 Children’s Book Council of Australia Honour Book for Older Readers and widely shortlisted. Her second young adult novel, The Protected, was the winner of four awards: the 2015 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards for Young Adult Fiction; the 2015 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards – Young Adult Fiction Prize; the 2015 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older Readers; and the 2016 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards – Young Adult. One Would Think the Deep, her third book for young adults was awarded the 2017 CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers, and in 2019 she published her first picture book, No Place for an Octopus.

Claire lives on the south coast of New South Wales with her husband and two small children.

Visit website clairezorn.com

‘This is the best YA I have read all year!’
Kids Book Review

‘Move over John Marsden: Claire Zorn has arrived.’
Good Reading Magazine ‘5-Star Review’

‘As post-apocalypse YA novels go, this one is scarily realistic … a powerful allegory with which to explain the asylum-seeker humanitarian crisis in Australia.’
Books+Publishing

‘Zorn’s tone is spot-on. The relationship between the brothers is a stand-out. Highly recommended for teens.’
Readings Monthly

‘Gritty and thought-provoking. The first novel that I loved so much that I just couldn’t stop reading until I reached the end, even skipping out on sleep. Just when you thought there was nothing more to be added to the dystopian genre, Claire decides to surprise us.’
The Gold Coast Bulletin

‘I’ve recently read your book The Sky So Heavy and I absolutely loved it. Your writing style and character development is phenomenal, and I just love Fin, like, wow. But I was wondering, is there a sequel? Because I need to find out what happens immediately.’
Phoebe, 16

When We Are Invisible is coming on 30 March 2021

ISBN 9780702263132 / RRP $19.99 / B format paperback

Teacher’s notes will be available on publication at uqp.com.au

UQP has twenty advance reading copies available for giveaway. To be in the running email Jean Smith.