Wonderland Road: A Novel

by Carrianne Leung

An absorbing and heartfelt new novel about three people looking for a future when the world hangs by a thread, for readers of Moon on the Crusted Snow and The Future

Pauline has not spoken to her sister, Mei, in two decades, not since before the world changed. A rare letter arrives asking Pauline to return to their old neighbourhood to care for Mei’s young daughter while Mei goes to find work.

Twelve-year-old Jing is living in the Children’s House, where all the parentless children stay while their parents work at the Farms. She hasn’t heard from her mother in months and the food deliveries they were promised have dwindled. Her only friends in the neighbourhood are a crow named Iris, an older boy named Julian, and the ghosts of her ancestors in their abandoned apartment.

Julian, once a star athlete and student with a bright future, is one of the only young men left on Wonderland Road. He can’t leave his parents, and he knows there is nowhere left to go. But Julian dreams of a boy he met and a kiss shared in what feels like another lifetime.

These three people will cross paths on Wonderland Road, a community trying to survive in a world of massive disruption and uncertainty. When the future feels poised on a knife’s edge, they must find a way forward.

304 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 14, 2026

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I picked up this newest dystopian novel from Canadian author Carrianne Leung!! It's my first by her and it was such a moving story about family trauma, sisterhood, community, friendship and place.

Wonder is a small town and its post apocalyptic inhabitants are made up mostly of children and older folks who can't work. All the workers have gone away, leaving young Jing without her mother. When Pauline finds out Jing is all alone, she travels to take care of her and has to reconcile with the traumas of her past and her estrangement from her sister Mei. Poignant, heartfelt and oddly hopeful (there's even a pet crow!).

This was a great read and good on audio too. Highly recommended especially for dystopian fans and lovers of books like Hollow Kingdom. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderland Road by Carrianne Leung is a thoughtful and quietly powerful novel that stands apart for the way it explores what happens when systems fall away—and what that reveals about people who have long been overlooked.

Set in a near-future world shaped by environmental degradation, scarcity, and social breakdown, the story follows the small community of Wonderland Road as they learn how to survive together. At its centre are Pauline, who returns to the place she was forced to leave; her young niece Jing, who faithfully waits each day for her mother to return; and Julian, a young man coming to terms with his identity in a world that no longer offers clear paths forward. Rather than relying on plot-driven momentum, this character-driven novel unfolds through moments of observation, memory, and connection.

What makes this book distinctive is its attention to who is seen and valued. Characters like Julian’s parents, Lola and Luis—whose skills as immigrants were diminished or ignored in the “before”—emerge as essential within the community, suggesting that society often fails to recognize the knowledge and resilience already present. The novel also offers a more intimate exploration of identity through both Pauline and Julian: Pauline, who begins to see herself beyond a single story of rejection, and Julian, who comes to understand and accept both his sexuality and his sense of self—learning that becoming his own person does not require rejecting the parts of himself shaped by his family.

The pacing is deliberately slow, mirroring a world in which daily life has been reduced to its essentials. Survival requires time, attention, and cooperation, and the novel reflects that rhythm. This may not appeal to readers looking for a fast-paced or plot-heavy story, but it feels purposeful and aligned with the world Leung has created.

For readers who appreciate dystopian, reflective, character-driven literary fiction, Wonderland Road offers a nuanced and quietly affecting exploration of identity, community, and what it means to sustain belief—even when the world offers no evidence to support it.

Thanks to NetGalley for my advanced reader copy of this book.

[Mike Broderick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.
I would rate this a 3.5, but will give it the benefit of doubt and bump it up
This was at times a great concept for me while at other times I found it lacking.

A post apocalyptic world where a small community of people are struggling to survive. I think the concept was solid, I like some of the issues she tried to introduce to make this work. Rather than having significant chaos and fighting like most books like this, it was a bit slower, really focusing on the day to day struggles.
There is a bit more of talking to ghosts than I would prefer, but I could have gotten past that.
Where this goes a bit wrong are the number of issues she tries to cover without really deep diving into them.
We have abuse, climate change, sexual orientation, effects of war, etc. in her own acknowledgements, she indicates that she wanted to write a beautiful book because of what’s going on in our world.

[Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel’s post‑apocalyptic landscape isn’t defined by spectacle but by the quiet, grinding realities of survival after modern life has fallen away. At its core, the novel is reaching for something tender, a meditation on love and family, but I struggled to connect with the characters meant to carry it. I found myself admiring what Wonderland Road wanted to say more than I enjoyed the actual experience of reading it.

[Jane Mulkewich · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book, and I feel the need to quote from the author's acknowledgements, where she says: "I wanted to write a beautiful book. I wrote it to find some hope that would sustain me amidst deepening global crises". Hence this dystopian novel, set in the not-too-distant future, where the characters find community and ways of sustaining themselves (emotionally and physically) instead of succumbing to despair. A great read.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

For decades, if not centuries, novels and other works depicting a post-apocalyptic world have formed a popular sub-genre of science fiction. Many of these works focus on the collapse of civilization and posit how such a calamity could come about. In the 21st-century we’ve seen a stream of works emerge that skip the actual mechanism of collapse and—inspired predominantly by the dire effects of environmental degradation and climate change—instead portray the aftermath as small groups of survivors struggle to cope with drastically altered circumstances. Carrianne Leung’s second novel is set amongst a community of individuals living on Wonderland Road, a quasi-suburban enclave not far from an unnamed city crippled by unspecified events that a few years earlier led to the failure of civil society. Pauline has lived in the city for decades, having left her Wonderland Road home at a young age to escape her mother’s drinking and abusive behaviour. At one time she had a lover, who left her, and since then has been living almost as a hermit. One day, out of the blue, after no contact for almost 30 years, she receives a letter from her sister Mei. Their mother has died, and Mei is pleading with Pauline to return home to take care of her daughter, Jing. In the absence of a governing body, a shadowy corporation called Bayson has moved in and filled a crucial gap, supplying people with food produced by farms located somewhere in the countryside, far from the city. In exchange for periodic (but increasingly unreliable) food deliveries from Bayson, the Wonderland Road group, along with other communities, provide Bayson with workers from among their members. Mei has agreed to leave home to work on one of the Bayson Farms. But with no one to care for her daughter, 12-year-old Jing will end up in the Children’s House with the other parentless children. Pauline is ambivalent, but with conditions in the city deteriorating and growing dangerous, she returns to Wonderland Road and assumes caregiving duties for her niece. Leung’s narrative comes to us via three central characters: Pauline, Jing, and a teenage boy named Julian. Initially Pauline is reserved and distrustful, finding herself among the unfamiliar remnants of her unhappy childhood. But as the seasons pass, we witness a gradual awakening of a more resilient and accepting self, until by the novel’s end she’s grown into something of a community leader. Julian’s tale is one of self-discovery as he struggles to come to terms with being gay. And Jing is an unusual child who misses her mother, sees ghosts, and whose best (and apparently only) friend is a crow named Iris. Looming over the action is the devastation that has wrecked the outside world, and which compels the community to pursue self-sufficiency while treating every stranger, every turn of the weather, as a possible threat to their survival. The triumph of Wonderland Road is Leung’s engaging cast of characters, many of whom come to matter greatly to the reader. The quandaries they face, their recognition of each other’s needs and vulnerabilities, their willingness to sacrifice personal goals for the good of the community, their admissions of weakness and confusion … all of these leave lives and hearts exposed and bring the novel’s humanity to the surface.

Realistic but hopeful, Wonderland Road depicts—in vivid and humane terms—a world where much has gone wrong and the future is uncertain. But it is also a world where people continue to trust and love one another.

[Heather Lang · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75⭐️
The world is struggling through war and climate issues. Basic structures of government and order are breaking down. Pauline has been barely getting by in the city, driven there by an abusive mother and the need to be her own person. Her sister Mei stayed back, caring for her daughter, then her sick mom. When desperation turns their small town into a worker-lending faction for the farms of a large corporation, promising to feed and support them, Mei sends a letter begging Pauline to return to care for her child. But this isn’t an ordinary town. Together, the remaining residents have pulled together to create a society that helps one another and doesn’t leave anyone behind. Here, Pauline must grapple with old wounds, open herself up to people wanting to help, not hurt, and find a way to connect with a life her sister had without her.

Leung writes very complex characters that can frustrate you with their actions. But slowly she pulls them out of their self-centered attitudes and gives them some redemption. While both elements of dystopian society and magical realism are evident, they are not added to the page in a heavy-handed way. They are perfectly sprinkled through the character development to both guide their actions, but not excuse them. The ending is both satisfying and frustrating in its ambiguity.