From the authors of Sanctuary comes a haunting near-future companion tale about undocumented immigrants subjected to deadly experiments in a government labor camp and the four courageous rebels who set into place a daring plan to liberate them. Solis is coming to shelves October 8, 2024.

The year is 2033, and in this near-future America where undocumented people are forced into labor camps, life is bleak. Especially so for seventeen-year-old Rania, a Lebanese teenager from Chicago. When she and her mother were rounded up by the Deportation Force, they were given the brutal job of digging in the labor camp’s mine searching for the destructive and toxic, but potentially world-changing chemical, aqualinium. With this chemical the corrupt and xenophobic government of the New American Republic could actually control the weather—ending devastating droughts sweeping the planet due to climate change. If the government succeeds, other countries would be at their mercy. Solidifying this power comes at the expense of the undocumented immigrants forced to endure horrendous conditions to mine the chemical or used in cruel experiments to test it, leaving their bodies wracked in extreme pain to the point of death. As the experiments ramp up, things only get worse. Rania and her fellow prisoners decide to start a revolution; if they don’t, they know they will die.

Told by four narrators—Rania, Jess (a former teenage Deportation Force officer), Vali, and Vali’s mother Liliana—Solis is about the courage and sacrifice it takes to stand and fight for freedom.

Scroll down to see the cover and read a sneak peek. Remember to preorder your copy here!

Cover design by Maria Fazio; Cover illustrations by Dana Ledl 

I am holding Kenna’s hand in our cage’s nightly prayer circle when the door opens.

“Ri,” Kenna whispers urgently, squeezing my palm. “Look at that.”

Time to break up the witches’ coven! We got a special guest tonight.

One of the officers has barged into our prison cell, dragging a new victim with him. I hear a communal gasp as everyone here takes in this girl’s wide, blue eyes; her blonde hair and pale skin.

“She’s one of our very own DF,” announces the officer with a chuckle. The girl looks around frantically. I have no idea what she’s looking for. Clearly, there’s no escape.

“Or, she was, until she decided she’d rather rot in hell with you all.”

She’d rather be with us? I don’t understand. She must have done something horrible, or treasonous. I’ve never heard of a DF officer going so far astray that she wound up in the labor camp. I’m honestly curious what crime against the Other 49 she could’ve committed.

But none of that seems to matter any more. I can feel from Kenna’s tight clasp that there is no sympathy for this shell-shocked traitor. Only rage. And rightly so. Everyone in this cage has a reason to despise this girl and all that she represents. Everyone here has been hunted, beaten or scarred irrevocably by the DF. 

“Wow,” says Kenna under her breath.

I’m not sure exactly what she’s thinking, but I feel like it must have to do with some kind of revenge. Kenna watched both of her parents get bound and gagged and thrown into a van — by two DF officers. I remember her telling me specifically how they looked so manicured and calm. One of them had pale pink nail polish that sparkled as she tighyly tied the gag on Kenna’s weeping mother.

That was during the first round of big DF raids back in 2032. Little did we know how much worse it would get.

The DF who’s brought in this disgraced former officer is still hovering nearby, surveying our cage. He seems so pleased to just stand there and see what happens. 

Nobody moves though. Even after the officer locks us in the cage for the night and takes off. Maybe it’s a sign that we’re too broken already; that they’ve beaten and tortured all the emotions out of us. We do nothing except stare at this blond-haired, blue-eyed specimen. It’s like biology class — which, once upon a time, was my favorite subject. I even liked the frog dissection part. I had all these plans to become a pediatric surgeon or go into molecular biology like my Baba.

It’s almost laughable thinking about that now. Like I would ever be considered some sort of expert on DNA or genetic sequencing when clearly this country wants to wipe out everyone who looks or sounds like me. After being in this camp almost a year, I’ve lost any hope of becoming a scientist. I can only concentrate on survival. I feel completely hollow and purposeless. Unless I’m with Kenna.