Atalla

’Original, timely, terrifying’ CHRIS WHITAKER

’Brilliant, profoundly unsettling’ DAILY MAIL

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE WATER RUNS OUT?

THE WORLD IS RUNNING OUT OF WATER.

With supply in the cities drying up, Aida is forced back home to live with her mum at their rural Scottish farm. The border is closed. Tensions are close to breaking point. For now, Aida and her mother have just enough to get by.

But then suspicious strangers arrive asking for help, Aida and her family face a terrible decision. How much water can they afford to share?

AND THEN THE TAPS ARE TURNED OFF.

Can they survive long enough for the rain to come?

Completely compelling, devastating and thought-provoking, Thirsty Animals takes us on a captivating journey of survival and self-discovery.

’Beautifully written, vivid and unflinching, it confirms Atalla as a real talent’ DOUG JOHNSTONE

’A master of slow-burning tension and unease . . . The pace of the story builds to an unputdownable conclusion, and the characters will stay with the reader for a long time’ CAILEAN STEED

Rachelle Atalla is a Scottish-Egyptian novelist, short story writer and screenwriter based in Glasgow. Her short stories have been published widely in literary anthologies and she is the recipient of a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award. Her first short film screenplay Trifle was commissioned by the Scottish Film & Talent Network and she is developing her first feature length screenplay with BBC Film. The Pharmacist was her first novel and shortlisted for the Scottish Fiction Book of the Year; Thirsty Animals is her second.