Children of the Dust: Part 2

By LOUISE LAWRENCE

Sarah's school shoes pounded along the pavements, up the hill past the District Hospital, leaving the town behind. A stitch in her side and her lungs heaving for breath made her stop and look back.

She saw the streets spread out beneath her, the river estuary shining silver in the distance, white piles of the nuclear power station on the opposite bank, and the Cotswold hills beyond. She had to remember it... Gloucestershire green in the sunlight, a blackbird singing and the wind blowing warm through her hair. With all her senses she had to remember it, all the scents and sights and sounds or a world she might never see again. The roadside was lacy with cow-parsley and May had covered the hedges with sweet white blossoms. Cattle grazed in the fields. A kestrel hovered and the woods were dreamy with bluebells. She heard a cuckoo calling through the silence. She heard the others running along the roadway ahead.

Publisher: Random House

Price: $16.95

Age group: 12 plus years


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