The Cautious Traveller's Guide to The Wastelands

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

The Great Trans-Siberian Express comes to life in a novel of wild imagination, perfect for fans of Piranesi, Babel, The Night Circus and Jessie Burton

'Brooks's vivid, impressive debut is a turn-of-the-last-century steampunk fantasy set aboard the Great Trans-Siberian Express' FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

'I urge everybody to pick up a copy' STUART TURTON

'Be warned - once you step into The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands, you'll never want to disembark' SAMANTHA SHANNON

'Wild and wonderful . . . completely captivating' JENNIFER SAINT

'Mysterious and clever and brilliant' NATASHA PULLEY

It is said there is a price that every passenger must pay. A price beyond the cost of a ticket.

It is the end of the 19th Century and the world is awash with marvels. But there is nothing so marvellous as the Wastelands: a terrain of terrible miracles that lies between Beijing and Moscow.

Nothing touches this abandoned wilderness except the Great Trans-Siberian Express, an impenetrable train built to carry cargo across continents but which now transports anyone who dares to cross the shadowy Wastelands.

On to the platform steps a curious cast of characters: a grieving woman with a borrowed name, a famous child born on the train and a disgraced naturalist, all heading for the Great Exhibition in Moscow.

But the old rules are changing, and there are whispers that the train isn't safe. As secrets begin to unravel, the passengers and crew must survive their journey through the Wastelands together - even as something uncontrollable seems to be breaking in . . .

About the Author

Sarah Brooks won the Lucy Cavendish Prize in 2019. She works in East Asian Studies at the University of Leeds where she also helps run the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing. She has a PhD on monsters in classical Chinese ghost stories and is also co-editor of Samovar, a bilingual online magazine for translated speculative fiction. Originally from Lancashire, she now lives in Leeds.