january sale
25% off selected Scottish titles
25% off selected Scottish titles
Independent Scottish Bookshop
Every book chosen by a bookseller.
Independent Scottish Bookshop
In stock
Scottish BookAuthor: Rachelle Atalla
£10.95
Set in a drought-stricken near future Scotland, Thirsty Animals follows Aida as she returns to her family farm where water has run out and survival depends on brutal choices. When strangers arrive, trust and morality fracture. Tense and unsettling, this speculative novel is ideal for readers of climate fiction and character-driven dystopian stories.
dispatched by Royal Mail Tracked 48
We found Thirsty Animals stark and morally tense, using drought and isolation to examine how scarcity strips communities back to fear, instinct, and uneasy choice.
As Independent Scottish booksellers, we write all of our descriptions personally, we hope you enjoy this one.
When the water runs out, everything else follows.
As supplies dry up across the cities, Aida is forced to return to her childhood home, a remote Scottish farm where she lives with her mother. The border is closed, tensions are rising, and uncertainty hangs over the land. For now, they have enough water to survive, but only just.
Then strangers arrive at the farm, asking for help. Each request brings the same impossible question. How much can they afford to give away without risking their own lives. Compassion and survival pull in opposite directions, and there are no easy answers.
When the taps are finally turned off, the balance collapses. What was fragile becomes desperate, and every decision carries weight.
Spare, tense and deeply unsettling, this is a novel about scarcity, family and moral choice in a near future shaped by climate crisis. It asks how we live with one another when resources disappear, and whether anyone can remain untouched when the rain refuses to come.
Sci-Fi & Horror