The Upper World
Published on 19. August 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
368 pages
978-0-241-50561-8 (ISBN)
Description
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES CHILDREN'S BOOK PRIZE 2022*
'A superbly original debut' - Guardian
'A time-twisting, mind-bending thrill ride . . . I loved it!' - Holly Jackson, author of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
'Impossible to put down' - The Independent
ONE GLIMPSE OF A TERRIFYING FUTURE.
ONE CHANCE TO CHANGE EVERYTHING.
After suffering a knock to the head, 15-year-old Esso experiences a chilling vision: that night he will witness the violent deaths of everyone he knows. He writes off the out-of-body experience as a strange dream - until a series of frightening coincidences prove that the vision is just hours away from coming true.
There is only one person who can help him rewrite the future.
The trouble is, she hasn't been born yet . . .
SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOVIE STARRING ACADEMY AWARD WINNER DANIEL KALUUYA
'A rollercoaster of a story . . . Orangeboy with an Inception-style twist.' - Kat Ellis
'Ambitious and highly addictive' - The Bookseller
'This is a book I will return to time and time again' - Caleb Femi
'So happy this exists' - Daniel Kaluuya, Academy Award-winning actor
'A superbly original debut' - Guardian
'A time-twisting, mind-bending thrill ride . . . I loved it!' - Holly Jackson, author of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
'Impossible to put down' - The Independent
ONE GLIMPSE OF A TERRIFYING FUTURE.
ONE CHANCE TO CHANGE EVERYTHING.
After suffering a knock to the head, 15-year-old Esso experiences a chilling vision: that night he will witness the violent deaths of everyone he knows. He writes off the out-of-body experience as a strange dream - until a series of frightening coincidences prove that the vision is just hours away from coming true.
There is only one person who can help him rewrite the future.
The trouble is, she hasn't been born yet . . .
SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOVIE STARRING ACADEMY AWARD WINNER DANIEL KALUUYA
'A rollercoaster of a story . . . Orangeboy with an Inception-style twist.' - Kat Ellis
'Ambitious and highly addictive' - The Bookseller
'This is a book I will return to time and time again' - Caleb Femi
'So happy this exists' - Daniel Kaluuya, Academy Award-winning actor
Reviews / Votes
'A startlingly original thriller . . . one of the most compelling debuts of the year' * The Observer * Wow! The Upper World is a time-twisting, mind-bending thrill ride. I raced through the pages trying to keep up with Esso and Rhia - if I could read at the speed of light, I would have! This south London epic will stay with you long after the final page. * Holly Jackson * Older teens will be blown away by The Upper World, Femi Fadugba's mind-bending sci-fi debut . . . the story brims with tension and emotion thanks to the authentic, relatable characters. * The Scotsman * To have a book that marries real London life, time travel and relativity in an illuminating and entertaining way is stuff I used to dream about. I had The Upper World in my hands until I finished it. So happy this exists. * Academy Award winner Daniel Kaluuya * This compelling thriller is set on the streets of South East London, a place author Femi Fadugba knows very well . . . once Esso and Rhia's stories start to unfold, this book is impossible to put down. One to read before it's adapted into a Netflix film starring Daniel Kaluuya. * The Independent, Children's Book of the Week * Truly mind-bending, fiendishly clever, original and stylish - I was blown away by this novel. Philosophy meets physics meets Peckham . . . No doubt about it, The Upper World is destined to stand the test of time. * Amy McCulloch * A superbly original debut, written with extraordinary ambition and panache . . . effortlessly blends theoretical physics with all-too-human tragedy. * Guardian * A sci-fi drama that captures the value of self-belief . . . The voices of Esso and Rhia, both smart and curious, are rich in slang and details of the lives and friendships of black teenagers, and their tale unfolds suspensefully, with emotion and writerly skill * The Sunday Times, Children's Book of the Week * For days after reading [The Upper World], I was left with what I can only describe as an electricity surging through my spirit. Fadugba is an impeccable weaver of universes and this is a book I will return to time and time again. * Caleb Femi * [An] ambitious and highly addictive sci-fi thriller . . . The theory of relativity and time-travel science may drive the incredibly tense and compelling plot, but it is Fadugba's skill in weaving this around complex characters and a very powerful human story that makes The Upper World so special. * Fiona Noble, The Bookseller *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Random House Children's UK
Target group
Young adult
Interest Age: From 12 to 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 125 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
248 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-50561-8 (9780241505618)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Femi Fadugba is an EdTech CEO, sci-fi writer and Dummett Fellow at New College, Oxford. He has given talks to over 10,000 students on topics ranging from time travel physics to the process of writing his debut novel, The Upper World (coming to Netflix soon!). In prior lives, Femi worked as a science tutor, management consultant and solar salesman, having studied at UPenn and Oxford, where he published in the field of Quantum Computing.