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The Shining Wall by Melissa Ferguson: a dystopia of walls, clones and sisters
A shining metal wall keeps the wealthy, long-lived citizens of a fortress city apart from the slums in its shadow. Two orphaned sisters on the wrong side, and a cloned Neandertal officer who does not fit in on either.
The Listening ShelfUpdated 3 October 20262 min read
This page once held an earlier review by a different writer. This is a new page: a plain guide to the book, written from the book itself and its publisher's record, not a personal verdict.
The short answer
The Shining Wall (Transit Lounge, April 2019) is Melissa Ferguson's dystopian novel about inequality, technology and female friendship. Orphaned Alida and her younger sister Graycie struggle to survive in the slum settlements outside a walled city, and their fate becomes tied to Shuqba, a cloned Neandertal security officer exiled from the city. For readers of literary dystopia who want something less well known than the classics on our [dystopian shelf](/dystopian-books/).
What it is about
In a ruined world, the citizens of LeaderCorp's City 1 live behind a shining metal wall, wealthy, heavily controlled and pushing health and longevity to extremes. Their comfort depends on cloned Neandertals who serve as a security force, and on the exploitation of women in the shanty towns and wastelands beyond the wall.
Alida, gutsy and resourceful, is forced into dangerous and illegal work after her mother's death and her sister Graycie's illness. When the sisters are forced into the City by very different means, they risk being separated for good. Meanwhile Shuqba, a cloned Neandertal officer, is exiled to an outpost in the settlements for failing the impossible standards set for her kind. As their society tilts toward collapse, Alida and Shuqba have to decide whether to trust each other.
What it is about underneath
- Haves and have-nots. The wall is the plainest image of inequality in the book: safety and health for some, bought with others' labour.
- Who counts as human. The cloned Neandertals are made to serve and held to standards they cannot meet.
- Women's friendship and power. The publisher calls it "a paean to female friendship and power", and the bond between Alida and Shuqba is its centre.
Who it is for
Readers of dystopian and speculative fiction who like character-driven stories more than action, and book clubs looking for an Australian-published dystopia with plenty to argue about.
How to get it
We found no audiobook on Audible Australia and it was not in either Libby catalogue we check, so this is one for print or ebook, from Melbourne publisher Transit Lounge.
Common questions
What is The Shining Wall about?
Two orphaned sisters surviving in the slums outside a wealthy walled city, and a cloned Neandertal security officer exiled from that city, in a dystopian world built on inequality.
Who published The Shining Wall?
Transit Lounge, an independent Melbourne publisher, in April 2019.