AustLit

'Kids at school say Simon is “weird”. His brother Davey questions why he never speaks. Grandma secretly takes him to various doctors, while Mum won’t get out of bed. Cassie, his first friend in years, affectionately calls him “numpty”. In Simon’s brain, however, all his focus is required to keep chaos at bay. Borders between inside and outside are permeable: dust triggers asthma that flaps like a bird caught in his rib cage, a reassuring touch on the shoulder scalds, a breeze on his sweaty limbs makes storm clouds gather around his shoulders.' (Introduction)

'The greatest deliberate loss of American civilian life in modern times before the fall of the Twin Towers took place in Jonestown, Guyana, on November 18, 1978. On that day, 918 people, including 304 children, were ordered to drink grape-flavoured cordial from a metal tub laced with cyanide, chloral hydrate, Valium and Phenergan – that or commit suicide by alternative means – at the order of the Reverend Jim Jones, to whose apocalyptic cult they all belonged.' (Introduction)