In Rakana, blue is power. Trust is dangerous.

For generations, the Governors have controlled every aspect of life. They decide who may have children and when. Those born out of turn are quietly taken away, their absence absorbed into a system no one dares question.

When sixteen-year-old Tula discovers she is pregnant, she faces an impossible choice: surrender her child or risk everything.

Helped by her grandmother, Tula escapes beyond the boundaries of the only world she has ever known. As she journeys into forbidden places and uncovers long-buried truths, everything she has ever believed begins to unravel.

What begins as one girl’s desperate attempt to save her unborn child becomes the first crack in a society built on unquestioning obedience.

FLAX is a lyrical, haunting novel of freedom, trust and resistance. Deeply atmospheric and emotionally resonant, it explores what happens when everything you’ve ever believed is a lie—and the only question left is: who can you trust?

Alison Jean Lester is the author of the novels Lillian on Life, Yuki Means Happiness, Glide and The Sound of It, as well as the memoir Absolutely Delicious: A Chronicle of Extraordinary Dying and the short-story collection Locked Out: Stories Far from Home. Her work has been published in Australia, the UK and the United States. FLAX is her most ambitious novel to date.