Julie Bertagna

Exodus

Ten years ago I was traveling allover Europe and had the idea for a story about a cloud-high city in the sky -each night I'd sit at a cafe table somewhere in Europe and try to write the story but after a month of the idea going nowhere, I gave up. Then a couple of years ago, I wrote a short story about a drowned world for Tony Bradman's anthology of Phenomenal Future Stories. It was only afterwards that I saw I'd finally written that story about a city in the sky. The difference this time was that I had found a character, Mara, who made the story work -the best idea in the world is no good without the right character. After I finished the short story, Mara kept haunting me and when she started waking me up in the middle of the night I realised I'd have to write a novel to find out what happened to her. And so Exodus began.

The writer Henry James used to 'walk up' his stories in London and Italy. Well, I walked up Exodus all over Glasgow! This is a city of hills and I'd walk from one to another, for months, imagining it flooded, with only the hilltops left and a vast sky city towering overhead, high above the drowned world. That's how I found the street names of the Treenesters, who all came to life effortlessly the instant I gave them their names. The Treenesters' island, the Hill of Doves, is actually the hill I live on. Even the crab apple trees are real -I planted two in my garden and imagined them, in a hundred years, grown into a small orchard.

The book was literally written on the move -on the open top of a Glasgow Discovery Bus, where I saw the statues and stone carvings on the city's buildings that are a vital part of the story; in the cathedral, where the words quoted in the book really are engraved on a pillar; in the Hunterian Museum and Kelvingrove Art Galleries, both of which feature in the netherworld. I climbed the thousand winding stairs (it felt like a thousand) that lead to the university steeple, just like Mara does, and peered into wind- blasted rooms. But I drew the line at ascending the perilous staircase that spirals up inside the steeple to its very tip! While researching Glasgow's legends in the Mitchell Library, I found the amazing works of a forgotten Glasgow poet, James Macfarlan, a pedlar poet, a kind of 19th century Irvine Welsh - and got goosebumps because some of his poems uncannily echoed my book. So I had to use them.

I found stuff everywhere. I believe strongly in serendipity. The urchins' 'Bash' was sparked by the percussion-theatre of 'Stomp' - an old schoolmate is a founder member. The scene where Mara is in the phone box on her drowning island came from a Verve song. And many mornings, as I geared up for a day's writing on the move, I'd read the paper over a coffee at a local cafe, and find yet another news report on the evidence of global warming and its potentially catastrophic effects.

But some things are a mystery to me. I finished writing about the Treenesters just weeks before the floods of Mozambique and was stunned to watch my 'futuristic fiction' happening live, on TV. The book was already finished when the issue of refugees erupted in Australia and much closer to home, with the murder of an asylum seeker in Glasgow. But I began the book in the year after Kosovo, and was haunted by images of that. So I wrote Exodus very much amid the buzz and heartbeat of this world, as I surfed out in my imagination into a world of the future.

Julie Bertagna January 2002

Reviews of Exodus

The future; the ice caps have melted. Mara's island is teetering on the verge of being drowned. Whilst idling the time away exploring the remains of the internet, she discovers an apparent escape: cities in the sky, built as a solution to global warming. The islanders make the perilous journey there, but discover all is not what it seems when they become refugees outside a barrier that the city's inhabitants are oblivious to. Mara must find another haven, and quickly. Along the way she discovers the dark roots that hold the sky city up, and must become a leader for her people's exodus.

The whole story tightens up as the tension increases; the setting is imaginative and described excellently and you finally feel an empathy with the characters. It's a real page-turner, and you can't help being drawn into the action. You have to have patience and persevere until the plot grips you.

Luke Bramwell, Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School

There is only one word that comes to mind, brilliant. This book combines suspense, excitement, mystery and sheer excellence. Julie Bertagna has created one of the best books I have read in a long while. I soon felt as if I was in the text, the descriptions gave me pin sharp images. This book took me deep into my thoughts about what Earth would be like in 2 centuries time.

Matthew Hawley, West Craven High Technology College

Really descriptive and action-packed. The book seemed very real. As if you were there with Mara, trying to save her village.

Alison Sumner, Ribblesdale High Technology College

I was surprised by this book. I did not think I would like it, but actually I did, very much. A lot of fantasy tales such as this can become extremely complicated, to the point at which you have no idea what is happening. But this book didn't do that. It kept you interested, and I always knew what was happening. The plot itself, I thought, was very clear indeed, with some brilliant characters. This may well become a short listed book.

Mark Scully, Burscough Priory High School

I like this book because it gives the reader a wake up call on what the world will be like long after we're gone.

Tom Collinge, Ribblesdale High School

I didn't like this book at all. The storyline dragged. I couldn't picture what the surroundings were like. The weave which the main character used was a poor excuse to continue with the story.

Sian Walmsley, Fulwood High School

This book was very ‘out of the ordinary' and unlike any other book I have read. It was very interesting. When I first started it I expected it to be confusing but it wasn't. It was fast moving and exciting.

I really enjoyed the book. It was very interesting, fast moving and exciting. I have never read a book like it. I could visualise the story scene and the characters well because there was a lot of description given. It was like taking a holiday to a different world. The end was great as well!

Rebecca Mitchell, Heysham High School

Exodus is the story of Mara, who many years into the future lives on the only island left in the world. The whole world has flooded. When she discovers cities above the sea on the internet she convinces her fellow islanders to sail with her to one of these cities.

Greg James, Hutton C of E Grammar School

"The University of Central Lancashire is delighted to sponsor the Lancashire Children's Book Award. Reading is not only a lifelong pleasure: it unlocks our capacity for imagination and understanding. As a university dedicated to lifelong learning, we are pleased to be associated with an Award that encourages enthusiasm for reading and critical judgement in equal measure"
Malcolm McVicar, Vice-Chancellor.