Aftershocks - Anne Fine

A family mix-up means Louie has to tag along with his engineer father and his team as they head for a routine job in the farthest flung and most neglected province of the Federation. A massive earthquake, with ensuing tsunami, devastates the entire isolated coastal region, laying bare the other-worldly manner in which the silent and strange Endlanders deal with life, death and the hinterlands of memory and loss. Their curious and unsettling ways raise ghosts for Louie, who has recently lost his own brother. This modern fable - part ghost-story, part coming-of-age novel and part astute social and family observation - explores the ways in which grief can affect not only individuals, but communities at large.