Eliot Schrefer is a national book award finalist but he still surprised me with his skilful portrayal of Sophie, a teenage girl visiting her mother who runs a bonobo sanctuary in the Congo. When a violent coup erupts, Sophie is left alone with Otto an orphaned bonobo she had bought at the side of the road. Forced into the protected sanctuary, with only an electric fence between her and the murderous boy soldiers, Sophie must try to be accepted by the troop of adult bonobos inside. Exciting, realistic and with moral dilemmas that stay with you this book really raises the bar for young adult fiction. It is the first in the ‘ape quartet’ and I cannot wait to read them all.
