The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig

Four hundred years in the future, the Earth has turned primitive following a nuclear fire that has laid waste to civilization and nature. Though the radiation fallout has ended, for some unknowable reason every person is born with a twin. Of each pair, one is an Alpha—physically perfect in every way; and the other an Omega—burdened with deformity, small or large. With the Council ruling an apartheid-like society, Omegas are branded and ostracized while the Alphas have gathered the world’s sparse resources for themselves. Though proclaiming their superiority, for all their effort Alphas cannot escape one harsh fact: Whenever one twin dies, so does the other...

A wonderfully rich book, with huge ideas. Two very engaging lead characters, who by the end you really begin to feel for and care about.  This book says some very interesting things about disability, and the story being told through the eyes of Cass, an Omega, one of the marginalised, keeps this issue at the forefront of the readers' mind. Cass has no obvious defect, unlike her comrade, Kip, who is missing an arm, but rather is a seer, blighted by visions of the nuclear blast, among other things. The story follows Kip and Cass as they escape Cass's twin Zach, one of the leaders of the Alpha council, and the mysterious Confessor.
Making their way to a rumoured safe-hold, an island where Omegas are free and have established a resistance, the novel charts their relationship, while revealing the plans of the Alphas.  Marginalised, controlled, oppressed, the Omegas are victimised from the moment their defect becomes apparent, and this book doesn't shy away from highlighting this discrimination.

Very definitely a Young Adult book, but a book that can, and should be read at any age.  I remember reading Z for Zachariah at secondary school, and this book reminded me of that, with the themes of nuclear war, individual freedom, scientific taboo and the danger of the wrong people having too much power.  I wouldn't be surprised to see it on the syllabus in the coming years.


Thanks to netgalley, and the publisher HarperCollinUK for the free copy in exchange for this honest review.