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  • Published: 16 July 2019
  • ISBN: 9781760892555
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $16.99

New City




A new city offers a new life - but what kind of life will Isabella and her friends find?

Isabella and her friends are nervous about what they’ll find in the New City. It’s inland and it’s dry – far from the flooded city they’ve just left. Will their lives here be as luxurious and carefree as Xavier says? In fact, bleak, uncertain times have brought darkness and danger to New City.

The city has been divided in two: the citizens who have, and those who the ruling Major General says have come to steal from them – the refugees who have fled the rising waters, who are imprisoned in a camp on the edge of the city.

The kids of Grimsdon once faced sea monsters and evil harbour lords, but now they face new threats. From freakish weather events that whip up with little warning to the fierce misinformation that swirls around the city to the theft of their freedom, now they face the prison-like restrictions and control of the New City.

Unlike the refugees, they’re heralded as heroes. But what does the Major General really want from them?

  • Published: 16 July 2019
  • ISBN: 9781760892555
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $16.99

About the author

Deborah Abela

After training as a teacher, Deb travelled to Africa, where she was trapped in a desert sandstorm, harassed by monkeys and thrown in jail twice. She trained as a teacher before becoming writer/producer of a national children’s TV show at Network TEN. She’s since written 30 internationally published and awarded books, including the Max Remy series, her climate change trilogy, Grimsdon, New City and Final Storm and The Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee. Her CBCA Notable, The Book of Wondrous Possibilities, is about the power of books to save us when we feel lost. Her latest books are, The Kindness Project, a verse novel about how even the smallest act of kindness can change the world and her picture book, No More Room in the Bed. www.deborahabela.com

Also by Deborah Abela

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Praise for New City

With lots of close shaves, terrifying weather episodes, a secret guerrilla group and riveting episodes of flying on reconnaissance missions with mechanical wings, this is an exciting story for mid-upper primary readers.

Chloe Mauger, Magpies

Awards & recognition

Reading and Enjoying Australian Literature (R.E.A.L.)

Shortlisted  •  2023  •  Fiction for Older Readers

Discover more

Article
Inspiring conversations about climate change

Deborah Abela delves into the inspiration behind her hit middle grade series, Grimsdon, and reflects on how her books spark discourse around climate change. 

Teachers' notes
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