GUEST BLOGGER Jonathan Friesen

 GHB says hello and a very warm welcome to Jonathan Friesen, our guest blogger this week. Jonathan is here to tell us about his gripping, new novel, Aquifer

What must I have to live?

It’s the sort of heavy question my mind sometimes finds.

Family.

I suppose I could live without them, but not very well. They are too deeply in my heart.

Friends.

They fill a hole family was never meant to. They chose me and I chose them and sometimes we “unchoose” each other. This makes my friends unique, and important.

Water.

11,000 lakes fill my state, and the sound of water is as familiar as my own voice. I once hiked through Mali, Africa, trudging through the Sahel desert. My tongue, my throat; I would have sold all I owned for one drink. Yes, hunger, makes me ache, but thirst makes me burn.

Finally, light. I crawled blind through a Middle Eastern cave. I had no light, no direction, and fear pounded in my ears.

Family. Friends. Water. Light.

What if I lost them all? For how long could I survive?

Aquifer tells the story of Luca, a young man living in future day Australia, at a time when fresh water has disappeared from the earth’s surface. The only source remains buried miles beneath.

On the surface, Toppers create a rigid society. They need water.

Around the subterranean Aquifer, a dark civilization develops. They need light.

An exchange must be made.

Each year, the Deliverer descends to the Aquifer, exchanging light rods for a year of fresh water.

If successful, the surface world rejoices.

But the Deliverer vanishes and the responsibility falls to his son, young Luca, who is about to lose all he needs, and yet find so much more.

 

Thanks Jonathan. Aquifer sounds a brilliant book. Definitely one to hole up with on a cold winter day. Jonathan and his publisher are giving away THREE copies of Aquifer here at GHB. Hurry, you’ve only got until noon of Friday 25th October to enter.