Winner of the Branford Boase Award 2001 Marcus Sedgwick's powerful debut novel about surviving in a sinking world marks the beginning of the author's multi-award-winning career Imagine that a few years from now England is covered by water & Norwich is an island Zoe left behind in the confusion when her parents escaped survives there as best she can Alone & desperate among marauding gangs she manages to dig a derelict boat out of the mud & gets away to Eels Island But Eels Island whose raggle-taggle inhabitants are dominated by the strange boy Dooby is full of danger too The belief that she will one day find her parents spurs Zoe on to a dramatic escape in a story of courage & determination that is handled with warmth & humanity