The Girl in the Road: A Novel by Monica Byrne

Stunningly original and wildly inventive, The Girl in the Road melds the influences of Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, and Erin Morgenstern for a dazzling debut.
 
When Meena, a young woman living in a futuristic India, gets out of bed with mysterious snake bites on her chest, she decides India has become too dangerous. As she plots her exit, she hears of The Trail and knows this is her salvation. The Trail is a bridge that spans the Arabian Sea, connecting India to Africa like a silver ribbon extending to the horizon.  Its purpose is to harness the power of the ocean—“blue energy”—but it also offers a sub-culture of travelers a chance for escape and adventure. Meena gathers supplies—a pozit GPS system, a scroll reader, a sealable water-proof pod—and embarks on a journey to Ethiopia, the place of her birth. 
 
     Mariama, a girl from a different time, is on a quest of her own. Forced to flee her home, she joins up with a caravan of strangers heading across Saharan Africa. She meets Yemaya, a beautiful and enigmatic woman who becomes her protector and confidante. Yemaya tells Mariama of Ethiopia, where revolution is brewing.
 
     As one heads east and the other west, Meena and Mariama’s fates will entwine in ways that are profoundly moving and ultimately shocking.  Monica Byrne’s vision of the future is vividly imagined and artfully told and she writes with stunning clarity and deep emotion, making The Girl in the Road a true tour de force.

From the Hardcover edition.