The Cautious Traveller's Guide to The Wastelands

The breathtaking historical fantasy set onboard the Great Trans-Siberian Express 'Imagine a crossover between Murder on the Orient Express, Game of Thrones and Paradise Lost . . . Brooks has serious talent' SUNDAY TIMES 'I was completely transported by this book . . . I urge everybody to pick up a copy' STUART TURTON 'Breathtaking . . . Abounding with mysteries and marvels' SAMANTHA SHANNON 'Exceptional. Strange, addictive, immersive, it's a steampunk Piranesi meets His Dark Materials' JENNIE GODFREY '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 nineteenth 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 the Wastelands except the Great Trans-Siberian Express: an impenetrable train built to carry cargo across continents, but which now transports anyone who dares. Onto the platform steps a curious cast of characters: Marya, a grieving woman with a borrowed name; Weiwei, a famous child born on the train; and Henry Grey, a disgraced naturalist. But there are whispers that the train isn't safe. As secrets and stories begin to unravel, the passengers and crew must survive their journey together, even as something uncontrollable seems to be breaking in . . .

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.