The Prophet of Yonwood

Nickie arrives in the town of Yonwood to clear out the old house where her great-uncle lived. She has barely settled in when the town begins to come apart.

A local woman, Althea Tower, falls into a trance and speaks a cryptic prophecy about a coming fire. Brenda Beeson, a zealous figure in the community, takes those words and turns them into a strict set of rules for how everyone must behave. Suspicion spreads from house to house.

As fear tightens its hold, what the prophecy actually means becomes a question of life and death. Nickie has to work out what is going on in a place where the truth is hidden behind that fear, and where doubting the rules can mark a person out.

This is a prequel, set fifty years before the events of The City of Ember, and it traces where the prophecy that later shapes the underground city began. The tone is tense and uneasy, with a small town turning on itself at the centre.