America Pacifica by Anna North

America Pacifica

Anna North

The Ice Age has hit the world again and thousands crowd together to live on America Pacifica, an island off the coast of America. Although set in the future, this novel isn't your typical sci-fi story. It is moral; it makes you think. A new life, a new future, but still the same class-division, the poor living in dire conditions whilst the rich feast on the best the island can offer. Why do we never learn?

Extract
Back when we'd been allowed outside sometimes, we'd learned that with every ten-degree drop, the cold became a new kind of thing. At ten it was brisk and energetic, like splashing your face with water, like having a dog lick your face. Zero is when it got bitter. At minus ten you felt the danger of it, like when you're very sick with a fever and your body feels like it's teetering somehow, even when you're lying down. Minus twenty we'd felt only a handful of times - when it got down that low every day they started locking the doors - but it was exciting, like when your fever really crests and you feel yourself splitting from your body.
Parallels
  • The Road by Cormac McCarthy
  • Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood