This book contains mature themes and strong violence. If you are below 15 years of age, we recommend you do not continue reading.
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Captured by the Supreme Empire, a tyrannical Italian regime, Thora faces a fate worse than death. She has a powerful ability in computer science that intrigues Vincent Giordano, the Empire’s ruthless leader. He plans to exploit her skill for his own benefit, forcing her to hack into the systems of his enemies and help him gain more power and authority. However, something unexpected happens that changes every plan of Vincent’s. Something that no one saw coming.
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Nariman El Akkaoui is a 15-year-old writer who explores the mental health of her characters and invites her readers to live inside their heads. She is fascinated by the complexities and nuances of human psychology and how they affect people’s actions and choices. In her spare time she plays board games that definitely stress her creativity out. Nariman's ultimate biggest fear would probably be the deadline.
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Over the course of 2023, a select group of young writers was invited to take part in a year-long writing program at Story Factory. Their goal was to produce a fully realised novella. This is one of the novellas produced in these workshops.
Year of the Novella 2023 was supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
This project was also made possible thanks to the support of a group of generous donors:
Rosebrook Foundation
Shand Foundation
Caroline Beecham & John Lydon
Greg Dean
Bernadette Brennan & Justin Gleeson
Deena Shiff & James Gillespie
Kim E Anderson
This publication would not have been possible without the unstinting support of the editorial and production teams at Penguin Random House. Thanks also to our all-round fantastic Story Factory volunteers. Finally, massive thanks to our typesetters, Midland Typesetters and Post Pre-press, and our printer, Griffin Press.
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