Photo sourced from Luna Press website.

South African writer CL Farley has a new science fiction novel in the works titled The Invisible Girl. The book tells the thrilling story of a woman who survives an apocalypse by becoming invisible and will be published by Luna Press in April 2024.

According to Publisher’s Marketplace, The Invisible Girl features a woman who survived an “apocalypse of hungry shadows” by becoming invisible. However, the story gets darker as she drowns during a violent telepathic assault and is exiled by the community she once called family.

After these traumatic events, the protagonist Maggie settles down on the edge of Bloemfontein, South Africa, where she scavenges for scraps. At the same time, she grapples with hallucinations, termed as “unreality, a collection of strange visions and slippery thoughts caused by the attack.” But the real conflict occurs when Maggie is approached by strangers who claim that she can destroy the shadow monsters, but she cannot tell if they are real or a figment of her mind. . .

Farley commented on her upcoming novel:

The Invisible Girl is about seeing the world differently, and society’s tendency to ‘other’ people who make them uncomfortable. Many different ideas and experiences inspired this story: life in a backwater city, victim shaming and the stigma surrounding mental health issues, and the search for community in a world that doesn’t tolerate strangeness well.

Based on the book description, it sounds like Farley’s new novel will not only have an exciting plot but also include interesting formal elements to showcase the main character’s experience in this apocalyptic world and her subsequent mental state. We are thrilled that Farley will be focusing on mental health in this novel through a character with a unique perspective.

See her Twitter book announcement below:

CL Farley is a South African storyteller who writes speculative fiction and neurodiverse narratives. She is also an editor and junior literary agent at Van Aggelen African Literary Agency. She has published a fantasy novel titled The World-breaker’s Name.

Congrats to Farley!