Lightmaker by Kevin Elliott

SPSFC 2023

Humans sheltered from the threat of extinction. Now their shelter is a prison. No one has heard of science. Priests burn books and save their sharpest daggers for people asking the wrong questions. Sensible girls stay quiet and become docile wives, but Phos doesn’t do sensible. She seeks escape, and questions smoulder inside her. Who created her world and what lies beyond its walls? Science might have answers, but the Church outlawed science thousands of years ago. A nearby windmill explodes, and Phos explores the ruins. But curiosity breeds danger, and her parents vanish along with her entire school. Now she runs from the priests - to survive she must learn how her world works. Ask the wrong question and she’ll face disaster. Stay silent and she’ll face death.