The buzzy postapocalyptic YA novel The Sandcastle Empire by Kayla Olson, which already has a movie deal, now has a cover and a publication date — June 6, 2017.
Set in a near future where climate change has pushed the world to the breaking point, a radical faction called the Wolfpack has seized control of the government. A young woman named Eden escapes a Wolfpack labor camp and heads to a supposed utopian island. Along the way, she learns more about the disappearance of her father and the mysteries behind the Wolfpack.
The manuscript generated heated interest in publishing and film circles. Movie rights were picked up by Leonardo DiCaprio, who is attached to produce along with his Appian Way partner, Jennifer Davisson Killoran. DiCaprio was said to be attracted to the book’s strong environmental themes. Publishing rights were snapped up by HarperTeen.
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Here’s the publisher’s official copy describing the book:
Before the war, Eden’s life was easy — air conditioning, ice cream, long days at the beach. Then the revolution happened, and everything changed.
Now a powerful group called the Wolfpack controls the earth and its resources. Eden has lost everything to them. They killed her family and her friends, destroyed her home, and imprisoned her. But Eden refuses to die by their hands. She knows the coordinates to the only neutral ground left in the world, a place called Sanctuary Island, and she is desperate to escape to its shores.
Eden finally reaches the island and meets others resistant to the Wolves — but the solace is short-lived when one of Eden’s new friends goes missing. Braving the jungle in search of their lost ally, they quickly discover Sanctuary is filled with lethal traps and an enemy they never expected.
This island might be deadlier than the world Eden left behind, but surviving it is the only thing that stands between her and freedom.
