Author Stalker: Ally Condie, author of the Matched series has a new book!

Ally Condie and Delicious Reads - don't you just love her ocean wave sweater?!
She bought it just for the book launch of Atlantia.

That's right, folks, author Ally Condie visited the Provo Library this last week to launch her new book, Atlantia. As a best selling author of the Matched trilogy, Delicious Reads couldn't wait to hear about the book straight from the author's mouth.

Though it doesn't officially hit the shelves until November 6th, this new dystopian novel was partly inspired by the original 1827 version of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. The first fairy tale of the underwater princess isn't quite like the Disney version, but the part that inspired Ally Condie was the idea of an underground city where people lived. Thus, Atlantia was born:

Atlantia Summary: 

Can you hear Atlantia breathing?

For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamt of the sand and sky Above—of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all her plans for the future are thwarted when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected decision, stranding Rio Below. Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio’s true self—and the powerful siren voice she has long hidden—she has nothing left to lose.

Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother’s death, her own destiny, and the complex system constructed to govern the divide between land and sea. Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths.

Ally gave each person that attended her book launch a lovely sea shell.
I love the turquoise swirls in mine!

Six Fun facts about this new book that Ally Condie shared with us:

1.) Though the book was inspired by The Little Mermaid, it is NOT ABOUT MERMAIDS!

2.) It's a stand alone book - no sequels for this one. (I don't know about anyone else, but it's nice to have just one book to read to finish a story!)

3.) The tagline for the book - Human voices wake us, and we drown - comes from the last line of a haunting T.S. Elliot poem called "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." 

4.) Ally Condie got the initial idea for the book from Utah's winter inversion that makes the air awful to breathe. Atlantia became an underwater refuge built when the earth above became too polluted for humans to survive for long. 

5.) The book was originally titled Rio for the main character — a girl who has been raised in a place where she has never been given the chance to breathe — or speak — fully. Rio is river is Spanish.

6.) The main hottie in Atlantia was inspired by Olympic Swimmer Nathan Adrian (whose picture Ally kept up for most of her presentation . . .sigh):

Source

Doesn't this book already sound like a winner? A cute guy, underground city, a siren voice, and a choice between the land and sea. Count me in! (which is probably why I already bought a copy!)

XoXo,

Robin King

(My book, Remembrandt, is coming November 14th!)

Get the behind-the-scenes look at more of our favorite authors from our Author Stalker series:

Leigh Bardugo: An interview with the author of Ruin and Rising and the rest of the Grisha Trilogy (Warning: Juicy Spoilers!)

Marissa Meyer: What you didn't know about the author of Cinder and the Lunar Chronicles - Fairy tales and science fiction, um, yes!

Kevin Henkes: A children's book author adults and kids love - our kids love him too.

Teri Harman: Check out the Q&A we did with the author herself! Blood Moon is a perfectly creepy Halloween read for book clubs.

Brodi Ashton: What it's like when the author of the Everneath series comes to Book Club Night!

**Find out more info on Atlantia on Ally Condie's Official Website**