In the aftermath of a devastating plague, a fearless young heroine embarks on a dangerous and surprising journey to save her world in this brilliantly inventive dystopian thriller, told in bold and fierce language, from a remarkable literary talent. My name be Ice Cream Fifteen Star and this be the tale of how I bring the cure to all the Nighted States . . . In the ruins of a future America, fifteen-year-old Ice Cream Star and her nomadic tribe live off of the detritus of a crumbled civilization. Theirs is a world of children; before reaching the age of twenty, they all die of a mysterious disease they call Posies—a plague that has killed for generations. There is no medicine, no treatment; only the mysterious rumor of a cure. When her brother begins showing signs of the disease, Ice Cream Star sets off on a bold journey to find this cure. Led by a stranger, a captured prisoner named Pasha who becomes her devoted protector and friend, Ice Cream Star plunges into the unknown, risking her freedom and ultimately her life. Traveling hundreds of miles across treacherous, unfamiliar territory, she will experience love, heartbreak, cruelty, terror, and betrayal, fighting with her whole heart and soul to protect the only world she has ever known. Guardian First Book Award finalist Sandra Newman delivers an extraordinary post-apocalyptic literary epic as imaginative as The Passage and as linguistically ambitious as Cloud Atlas . Like Hushpuppy in The Beasts of the Southern Wild grown to adolescence in a landscape as dangerously unpredictable as that of Ready Player One , The Country of Ice Cream Star is a breathtaking work from a writer of rare and unconventional talent. Newman’s novel is ambitious, taking on race, sex, class, religion, politics, and war all at once. What sets the work apart is its unapologetic narrator, whose fantastically unbridled, wholly teenage point of view renders each page a pleasure to read.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review) “This literary dystopia inhabits a fully imagined, remarkably inventive universe with its own bizarre rituals and language... the patient reader will be intrigued by the poetic prose and captivated by the exploits of Ice Cream Star.” - Library Journal “Newman’s story is inventive, her characters memorable… Praiseworthy for its solid efforts at worldbuilding…” - Kirkus Reviews “A treat, full of supple metaphors and rhythmic lyricism… This is an obvious candidate for Hunger Games-hungry Hollywood to pluck out the linguistic heart that makes it special. Take a look before that happens.” - Daily Telegraph (London) “In this haunting novel’s postapocalyptic world, a plague kills everyone before they reach age 20. Fifteen-year-old Ice Cream Star sets out to change that.” - People, New in Paperback “Newman’s richly imagined future world is inhabited almost entirely by African American children and teens who are immune to a deadly virus--and whose complex, slang-evolved patois makes this sweeping epic both fascinating and challenging to read.” - Washington Post, Notable Fiction Books of 2015 “A little like Hanya Yanigihara’s A Little Life , this is a big book that, while not always an easy read, immerses you in its world in a way that’s not easily forgotten.” - Slate, The Overlooked Books of 2015 “The post-apocalyptic trend is going strong, and Country of Ice Cream Star is one of the most original spins on the disaster-obsessed subgenre.” - Minnesota Public Radio, MPR News, Top Fiction Picks of 2015 “A bold, linguistically adventurous dystopia... historically and politically compelling in its view of a future haunted by disease and death. Yet Newman manages to imbue her heroine with a hope and resiliency that will surpass the ravages of a woebegone time. - Shelf Awareness “This remains one of the most beautiful books I have read this year - the one I champion everywhere.” - NPR, Best Books of 2015 “Written in a post-apocalyptic patois, Newman’s... haunting story ‘makes us confront the undeniable fact that the citizens of the future will be forced to repeat the history we’re making today,’ Andrew Ervin said here.” - New York Times Book Review, Paperback Row “This heartfelt, compelling tale of a post-apocalyptic world populated by young people is challenging to get through--partly because of the unusual hybrid language used throughout--but readers who persevere will be richly rewarded.” - Washington Independent Review of Books, 13 Best Books of the Year “[W]hat makes the novel so fascinating - and, yes, so challenging - is the language Newman has created for Ice Cream and the way we see this disease-ravaged world through her eyes.” - Washington Post “It’s a remarkable creation, an approximation of an English whose evolution failed to be nurtured past adolescence and then ossified with new rules and structure in place.” - The Onion, A.V. Club “[H]aunting and heartbreaking...this is an epic about love and hope that will inspire--and probably be screening