Nation

13-year-old Mau has almost completed the manhood ritual of his South Pacific island when a giant wave destroys his home, leaving him stranded between the boy he was and the man he was to have become. The ritual cannot be finished without his tribe, and his tribe was lost to the tsunami. He is all that is left of the "Nation," and the island s ancestral spirits demand that he continue the traditions of the Nation - traditions that Mua finds confusing and empty without his tribe around him. At first, the only other living soul on the island is Daphne, the daughter of the British governor of the Islands and a miraculous survivor of the wave. The two are separated by language and customs, but all they have is each other. With Daphne s help, Mau must carefully thread his way between the claims of the past and the reality of the present.§Terry originally started writing NATION before the devastating Asian Tsunami in 2004. In the wake of that tragedy, he put the manuscript aside. But the story continued to compel him and demanded to be written. As we expect from Terry s books, the story is poignant and funny by turns, and it is consistently wise. Propelled by themes of identity and community and driven by strong, sympathetic characters, this is rich, compelling, fantasy from a master storyteller and New York Times bestselling author.