When Dark Waters Burn

Zena Shapter

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MIDNIGHT SUN
01 June 2025

Stay out of sight. Stay hidden under the lake. Even as giant water-ants scout the surface, and deadly trees slop their hungry roots along the shoreline. For unrest surges in the swamps, getting closer and closer...

Sala will only be safe for as long as their ship's location remains a secret.

But when a horrifying threat ignites close to home, and the lakeside hillfarms are forced to reveal a desperate truth, it unleashes a wreckage of terror and destruction on the world of Palude. What Sala fears most becomes irrelevant. All she can do is run, and make one irrevocable choice after another. If she's to have any kind of future, she must fight to accept the collapse of her past. Hiding from it was never an option.

Praise for When Dark Roots Hunt (Ditmar Award Finalist for Best Novel 2024):

'Fresh, action-packed and utterly compelling. I loved it.'

Ian Irvine, internationally bestselling author of The Gates of Good and Evil series

'Filled with danger, tension, and intrigue. Blending fantasy, sci-fi, and a dash of dystopia... not to be missed. Four and a half stars (out of five)'

Jodie Sloan, The AU Review

'A refreshing breeze with bite.'

Bookworm for Kids

'An immersive, fantastical world with tension poised to snap at any moment. I couldn't put it down.' USA Today bestselling author Dionne Lister, The Circle of Talia

By: Zena Shapter
Imprint: MIDNIGHT SUN
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm,
ISBN: 9781922858627
ISBN 10: 1922858625
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 01 June 2025
Recommended Age: From 13 years
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Zena Shapter is a multi-award-winning author, high school English tutor and youth writing competition judge. Before writing When Dark Waters Burn, she interviewed scores of teenagers about what they wanted to read, and their concerns for the future. She was fascinated to learn they sought escapist stories that authentically represented their feelings of being unheard, fears about sustainability, threat of war, job instability...and Australian property prices! So she rolled all that into the thrilling world of Palude, a planet with carnivorous tree swamps, minimal land, few resources, and political unrest that resonates. To read more of Zena's incredible award-winning speculative and contemporary fiction, please browse the bibliography on her website at zenashapter.com. When not writing, Zena loves movies, frogs, chocolate, potatoes and living with her family among Sydney's beautiful Northern Beaches.