Kitty Hawke and her wolfdog, Girl, are the last residents of Wolfe Island in Chesapeake Bay. The island is sinking into the sea, a victim of the world’s changed climate. Kitty occasionally travels to the mainland for supplies but she is largely isolated from the political turmoil that has swept the country.

Until, one night, the world comes to her. Her granddaughter Cat arrives in a boat with boyfriend, Josh, and brother and sister Luis and Alejandra. It is obvious they are running from something but they won’t say what and Kitty doesn’t pry. She takes them in, offering them what shelter can be found on the dying island, where houses have fallen into ruin. She suspects Luis and Alejandra are ‘runners’, the name given to illegals who are trying to get to freedom in the north.

Against her will, Kitty finds herself caring deeply about the four. When bad people come hunting, she assumes the role of protector. They are forced to leave the island and run for their lives, trying to get to freedom before they are found and killed by vigilantes.

Lucy Treloar has conjured a world that is not so different from our own but the political, social, environmental and legal consequences that climate change has brought are slowly revealed. The best and worst of human nature is on display: from suspicious bystanders to trigger-happy vigilantes to those who offer help, even if it is in small ways. Kitty is a tough character and her journey is memorable.

Part The Road, part western, part mystery, this is a brilliant novel.

Reviewed by Melinda Woledge