EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN: A Novel
Jessica Redmerski
Fiction &
Literature | Post-Apocalyptic | Suspense | Romance
683 pages
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Thais Fenwick was eleven-years-old
when civilization fell, devastated by a virus that killed off the majority of
the world’s population. For seven years, Thais and her family lived in a
community of survivors deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. But when
her town is attacked by raiders, she and her blind sister are taken away to the
East-Central Territory where she is destined to live the cruel and unjust kind
of life her late mother warned her about.
Atticus Hunt is a troubled soldier
in Lexington City who has spent the past seven years trying to conform to the vicious
nature of men in a post-apocalyptic society. He knows that in order to survive,
he must abandon his morals and his conscience and become like those he is
surrounded by. But when he meets Thais, morals and conscience win out over
conformity, and he risks his rank and his life to help her. They escape the
city and set out together on a long and perilous journey to find safety in
Shreveport, Louisiana.
Struggling to survive in a world
without electricity, food, shelter, and clean water, Atticus and Thais shed
their fear of growing too close, and they fall hopelessly in love. But can love
survive in such dark times, or is it fated to die with them?
Excerpt
“One
more night,” I said, not looking at her. “Give me one more night and I’ll get
you out of this city.” All I could see in front of me was the scenario: I’d
wait until very late, after most of the city was sleeping, and then I’d dress
her in my military clothes, make her pin up her hair underneath a cap, strap a
rifle to her shoulder, a backpack full of goods on her back, and set her atop
the mare waiting at the stables.
“But
there’s nothing for me anymore,” Thais said, wiping away the lingering tears on
her cheeks. “There’s nowhere for me to go, and no one waiting for me there if
by some miracle I make it alive. My mother and father are dead. My sister”—she
looked up at me, and although I didn’t meet her gaze, I could feel her eyes on
me—“my whole family is dead, and this world is dead and my soul is dead and
everything that was once good and beautiful and right, is dead.”
I
looked at her then, her words stirring me.
“That’s
not true,” I said, and got up from the chair and crouched in front of her. “You
may be the only good thing left in this world, and I’ll be goddamned if I let
your light fade.”
Tears
tumbled down Thais’ cheeks.
I took
the gun that had fallen from her hand, tucked it into the back of my pants.
“Promise
me you won’t try anything,” I said as I went toward the door. “Promise me on
your sister’s soul, that you’ll stay in this room and wait for me.”
“Where
are you going?”
“To get
your supplies.” I placed my hand on the doorknob. “Don’t open this door for
anyone.” I opened it to blackness; the candles that had been lit in the hallway
had burned down.
“Wait,”
Thais called out, and I stopped.
She
stood up on wobbly legs.
“You
said to get my supplies—are you
sending me away alone?”
I
thought on it for a moment. I’d never had any intention of going with her. I
couldn’t. Not if I was going to keep others from following her.
“No,” I
finally said. “You’re not going alone. I’ll go with you, at least until I can
get you somewhere safe.”
“Is
there anywhere safe, Atticus?” Her
voice was soft, hopeless, and hearing her say my name like that did something
to my heart. “Do you know where you’re taking me?”
I
sighed. And I looked at the wall.
“Yes,”
I lied, and then stepped out into the hallway.
Just
before I closed the door I added, “Promise me.”
Thais
nodded.
“I
promise,” she said. “I’ll wait for you.”
About the Author
J.A. (Jessica Ann) Redmerski is an international bestselling
author and award winner who juggles several different genres. She began
self-publishing in 2012, and later with the success of THE EDGE OF NEVER,
signed on with Grand Central Publishing/Forever Romance. Her works have so far
been translated into twenty languages.
Jessica is a hybrid author who, in addition to working with a traditional publisher, also continues to self-publish. The Portuguese rights to her popular crime and suspense series, In the Company of Killers, have been picked up by one of Brazil's largest publishers - Suma de Letras; Paikese Kirjastus in Estonia; Ephesus in Turkey; Konyvmolykepzob in Hungary. The series has been optioned for television by William Levy.
Jessica is a hybrid author who, in addition to working with a traditional publisher, also continues to self-publish. The Portuguese rights to her popular crime and suspense series, In the Company of Killers, have been picked up by one of Brazil's largest publishers - Suma de Letras; Paikese Kirjastus in Estonia; Ephesus in Turkey; Konyvmolykepzob in Hungary. The series has been optioned for television by William Levy.
EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN is Jessica’s newest
love story.
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