Sixteen-year-old Ebba den Eeden is dealing with all the typical teenage things: first boyfriends, mean girls, overbearing aunts - and, of course, navigating the political schemes of a murderous dictator, running a farm to feed an entire city, preventing the genocide of 2,000 teenagers trapped inside South Africa's famous Table Mountain, and saving the world from another apocalypse by reuniting four ancient amulets with the help of her ghostly ancestors. Just another day for a den Eeden! In The Thousand Steps, we met Ebba, a red-headed mixed-race teen with a mysterious birthmark who spent sixteen years underground when nuclear war caused massive sea level rise and flooded her home city of Cape Town. Now a second apocalypse is on the way, and according to an old family prophecy, Ebba is the only one with power to stop it. With Hal imprisoned, the Colony running out of food, Micah off leading the Resistance with a gorgeous new sidekick, and the Second "Calamity" only days away, Ebba must listen to her instincts, even if it means destroying the things she holds most dear. Who can she trust to help take down General de Groot and find the missing amulets - and who will betray her? In the second installment of Helen Brain's Fiery Spiral trilogy, Ebba will learn the impossible decisions - and great sacrifice - that sometimes come with destiny. A dystopian fantasy that plays out on the shores of South Africa, for lovers of Akata Witch and Children of Blood and Bone. PRAISE FOR THE FIERY SPIRAL BOOK ONE "This novel will draw readers in with its high stakes and well-developed characters. [...] A strong, character-driven work recommended for readers looking for dystopian fantasy with a social justice bent." - School Library Journal "A deftly crafted, impressively original, and inherently entertaining novel [...]. The Thousand Steps will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to any high school or community library YA Fiction collection." - Midwest Book Review "Mixing mythology with real historical atrocities like apartheid, this is a solid tale featuring diverse characters who reflect the real-world communities of South Africa" -Kirkus Reviews

<300 review copies (150 prepub, 150 postpub) sent to reviewers, booksellers, librarians, bloggers, others. Available as an e-ARC on Edelweiss and Netgalley. 3-week, 15-blog blog tour with book giveaways. Goodreads and LibraryThing giveaways. We will seek to host an author Q&A chat on Goodreads. We will seek features and reviews from newspapers, magazines, and literary journals. Promotion targeting Book Riot, Brightly, and teen magazines, book bloggers, and social media influencers such as Seventeen and YA Books Central. We will create a reading guide for book clubs and others interested in reading the book in a group setting. The reading guide will be printed in the book and will include a Q&A with the author. We will seek blurbs from Tomi Adeyemi, Nnedi Okorafor, and others. We will seek out book clubs who are interested in the book and offer the chance to win a SKYPE visit with the author. Promotion at book fairs and trade shows--ALA annual, ALA mid-winter, African Studies Association, etc. We will submit the book for relevant awards. In collaboration with the author, we will plan Twitter chats, Facebook Live chats, a guest blog posts, and outreach to book clubs. Promotion online via Catalyst's website, email lists and social media (blog, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube) with author and publisher interviews, chats, and guest posts. Submission to the Junior Library Guild. < Simultaneous e-book and print release.

About the Author
Helen Brain was born in Australia in 1960 and raised in Durban, South Africa. After school, she studied music at the University of Cape Town. Before settling to a life writing and teaching writing online, she was a freelance journalist and editor, a screenprinter and crafter, and taught English, music, and Ancient Greek. A mother to three sons and grandmother to one grandson, Brain lives in Muizenberg, South Africa with her husband.


Book Information
ISBN 9781946395498
Author Helen Brain
Format Hardback
Page Count 248
Imprint Catalyst Books
Publisher Catalyst Books