Call of the Sun Child by Francesca G. Varela

Overview

Sempra has lived all of her sixteen years in an enclosed dome called the Circadia Stable Living Facility. It is structured, sustainable, and windowless. After the sun grew in intensity, causing society to become nocturnal, it was the only safe place to go. No one remembers the outside world. For 150 years the government has warned them about the deadly sun, and savage, vengeful outsiders. There is only one punishment for any crime: to be exiled from the facility. But Sempra is curious. Beyond those walls, what is there to see? When she and her childhood friend, Alden, discover a forbidden book, she begins to question the facility, and, with it, everything she has ever known.

Praise for Call of the Sun Child

In Call of the Sun Child, Varela has created a living, breathing world, that which was formed from her own passions. This tale of a lost girl, Sempra, and her transformation into adulthood is poignant and real. The world she exists in is somewhat distant, but unfortunately not distant enough. A cautionary tale, a coming of age tale… it all asks us the important questions: “Who are you and why do you believe what you do?”

—Steve Davala, author of The Soulkind Awakening

Call of the Sun Child is written in a haunting and beautiful prose. Varela trusts her readers with figurative and poetic language that paints an almost dream-like setting in post-apocalyptic America. Varela does more than write a story, she captures the vague and elusive emotions of Sempra, a girl who must learn to dream of freedom before she can pursue it.

—Regina Sirois, author of On Little Wings