Sherri L. Smith, whose excellent novel “Flygirl” made our Blockbuster-Free Reading Exchange last summer–and also won the California Book Award, was a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults, and made it onto 14 State Award Lists–has a new novel coming out that is causing buzz-buzz-buzz! It’s called “Orleans,” and it’s arriving in bookstores on March 7. Booklist has given it a starred review, and Kirkus calls it “a harrowing and memorable ride.”
YARN is the only place where you can read you can read a short story prequel to “Orleans,” called “Orleans: Carnivale.” This is the story of Carnivale in a very different New Orleans than the one we know today. Smith’s novel takes place after a wave of fatal hurricanes and Delta Fever decimate the population of the region. Citizens of the Outer States think there is no life in the Gulf Coast, but in reality, a new primitive society has emerged. From this society comes Fen de la Guerre, who has been left with the newborn child of her tribe’s leader, whom she is determined to give a better life.
Sherri tells YARN that “Carnivale” takes place approximately nine months before the start of “Orleans” and gives a glimpse into the world of the heroine, Fen de la Guerre, and her chieftain, Lydia, before their world is turned upside down.
