Children of Zone

by Derek Parker

In 1986 there was a nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, in what was then the Soviet Union. The area, over two thousand square kilometres, was evacuated and sealed, closed off from the world by a massive wall. But 149 schoolkids are left behind, forgotten. Over time, they learn how to survive, and slowly they build a society for themselves despite the dangers - radiation, wolves, and winter - of the Zone. Twenty years after the Evacuation, a helicopter from the other side of the Wall appears, with a mysterious woman at the controls. That encounter sparks a chain of events which takes one of the Children, the hunter Isaak, back to the past, to the day of the Evacuation - and towards a confrontation which threatens the future of the Zone itself. Derek Parker is a freelance writer based in Melbourne. His non-fiction writing appears in a wide range of publications. He has two children and two cats. Children of Zone is his second novel, after This Tattooed Land.

142 pages, Paperback

Published November 4, 2015

About the author

Derek Parker (27 May 1932 – 2 January 2025) was a British writer and broadcaster. He was the author of numerous works on literature, ballet, and opera, and with his wife Julia of several books about astrology.