THE TIMES CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025.

Xavier Oak doesn't particularly want to go to the cottage with his dad and his dad's pregnant new wife, Nia. But family obligations are family obligations, and it's only for a short time. So he leaves his mom, his brother, and his other friends behind for a week at the lake. Only... one morning he wakes up and the house isn’t where it was before. It's like it's been lifted and placed... somewhere else.

When Xavier, his dad, and Nia go explore, they find they are inside a dome, trapped. And there's no one else around...

Until, three years later, the Jacksons arrive, and they have very different ideas about where they are — and who put them here.

Is there any escape?

Or is escape the worst thing that could happen to them?

“Oppel centers a persistent and intelligent protagonist in this unassuming but riveting novel. Compact yet brimming with tense atmosphere, it’s a sharp examination of society and isolation presented as a thriller set in a deceptively bucolic landscape." —STARRED REVIEW, Publishers Weekly

'A spellbinding and chilling fable' – Financial Times

'Hugely thought-provoking, frequently frustrating, this speculative YA novel will stay in the mind long after it’s finished' – The Guardian

"Stereotypes on both sides of the political aisle are deftly explored through these characters, but above all, this is the definition of a page-turner. . . . A thought-provoking, uncomfortable thriller that readers won’t be able to forget. Highly recommended." —STARRED REVIEW, School Library Journal

"[A]n inventive, dramatic work of speculative fiction about accepting uncertainty and surviving change. . . . Oppel brilliantly withholds confirming the truth of the Oaks's and Jacksons' circumstances until the novel's crucial climax, ensuring readers will race through the chapters to Oppel's expert landing of a close. An excellent read-alike for fans of Neal Shusterman and Gary Paulsen." —STARRED REVIEW, Shelf Awareness

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