Jelly

Aboard ‘Jelly‘, the killer giant jellyfish, life is routine. Copious amounts of plastic provide enough material for clothing, shelter and recreation. James is protective of his plastic bag rugby ball that provides a popular residential activity. James, Lana and Kate join Martha, our narrator, in lessons with Dr Jones. Sometimes they wonder about the point of learning, just as they wonder why they must bear the evening lectures of Carol and Old Albert.

When Big Things happen, life and the jellyfish are overturned. Big Things like a sighting of humans, and an attempt to escape that fails less destructively than feared. Might these Big Things inspire the residents of ‘Jelly‘ to work together, anew, to outwit their glutinous island and head to shore?

Life is risky there. Martha can barely remember Before, ‘when people spent a lot of time pretending, and ignoring things‘. She doesn’t remember when ‘people said there was nothing wrong with the planet’. Now there is an empty flooded void, interrupted by overgrown sheep and sightings of marauding killer kriks.

‘Jelly’ is apocalyptic, believable, entrancing, terrifying and wonderful. Debut author, Clare Rees, has created a gripping novel for older readers.