Tatterdemalion

In a ruined world, what survives are the tales we tell.

Tatterdemalion is a uniquely original post-apocalyptic novel rooted in fantasy and folklore. It begins when Poppy, who speaks the languages of wild things, travels east to the mountains with the wheeled and elephantine beast, Lyoobov. He’s seeking answers to the mysteries of his birth, and the origins of a fallen world.

Up in the glacial peaks, among a strange, mountainous people, a Juniper Tree takes Poppy deep into her roots and shows him the true stories of the people who made his world, people he thought were only myths. Their tales span centuries, from three hundred years in the future all the way back to our present day. It is through this feral but redemptive folklore that Poppy begins to understand the story of his own past and his place in the present.

Tatterdemalion is a brilliant collaboration between the visual artist Rima Staines and the author Sylvia Linsteadt, and it features 14 original colour illustrations which inspired the story.