Melissa Dykes

All the Elders Orphans Melissa Dykes

Sophia Walden had a plan. After a devastating war left her a widow and decimated the rest of the country's population, she planned to spend the rest of her days in an isolated mountain trailer full of books, animals, and solitude. But when a young boy from town shows up at her door one morning begging for help in finding his missing sister, she is soon catapulted deep into the dark heart of the new land that surrounds her. There, a shattered civilization is regrouping into gangs and clans fighting for control over what remains. There, violence and betrayal rule, and the coin of the realm is made of flesh, not gold. There, a singular act of extraordinary brutality will have far-reaching consequences not only for these two travelers, but for every person left alive. If Sophia can learn to navigate this new world fast enough, she just might be able to help the boy and save what little bit of family he still has. But if she fails, then everyone's future--as well as their freedom--will be in jeopardy.