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| Oculum, cover by Emma Dolan |
"May the sun shine, may the sweet rain fall and the fruit trees blossom once again." Then she mumbles under her breath, "What I wouldn't give for a peach."
--Oculum, Dancing Cat Books, Sept/2018
Those words are spoken by Grannie, the older woman who manages to keep all the boys in her village fed and clothed after the fall of civilization, in my new middle grade dystopia, Oculum.
Peaches, along with all the other fruit bearing trees, are long gone due to an environmental disaster 70 years (or so) earlier. Of course, there ARE peaches in the story, but they are just for the lucky few living in the domed world of Oculum.
The cover of the book shows Mother of Miranda1, a robot mother, holding out a peach.
It's peach season in Ontario right now. My daughter and her boyfriend brought me a carton of fresh Niagara peaches for my birthday dinner this week. We devoured them, they're delicious, sweet and perfect. And they're also a perfect symbol of what we stand to lose in this world if we completely tank the planet.
As I ate a peach this morning, I tried to imagine a world without them. Then realized I didn't want to.
There are other things missing in Oculum. Inside the dome, there is no talk of love and no one has ever died or grieved for a loved one, because all the children are under the age of 13, and their "adults" are all robots. But the children grow up ... and love blooms anyway.
Just like peaches.
And death is unavoidable, inside the domed world and out.
Does Grannie get her peach? Give Oculum a read, and find out!
Happy U.S. book birthday to Oculum, which is available in the U.S. tomorrow, September 1/2018. Buy a copy now: OCULUM
Quill & Quire loved it, here is their review: OCULUM
Also Highly Recommended by CM Magazine, Oculum Review
Goodreads Reviews
More about OCULUM on THIS BLOG
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