Siberia

Title: Siberia
Author: Ann Halam
Laurel-Leaf Books, 2005

This novel i set in a future where Europe has turned into a huge Siberia-like landscape. Animals are basically extinct and although we never know exactly who they are, mind-controlling politicians send people to huge prison camps in the wilderness for crimes of the mind as well as crimes of the flesh. Families are tainted and are likewise imprisoned. A young girl is given a legacy by her mother, a scientist, in camp: she is to guard seedlike genomes of the extinct species and bring them to safety to the City of Light, and the girl is forced to set out on a voyage across the bleek, bandit-infested landscape.

This could work for the B-course in English but would need a bit of pre-work to ease the students into the story. Maybe not for everyone. The second half of the book is better than the first because the focus ofthe story is clearer.