WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE WATER RUNS OUT?THE WORLD IS RUNNING OUT OF WATER. With supply in the Scottish cities drying up, Aida is forced back home to live with her mum at their rural farm. For now, they are safe with just enough to get by.

Yet at the border, tensions are close to breaking point as more and more southerners chase the delusion that Scotland is an eternal spring - while fewer and fewer are allowed through. The service station where Aida works grows emptier with every day. Then, when suspicious strangers arrive at the farm asking for help, Aida and her family face a terrible decision.

How much water can they afford to share?AND THEN THE TAPS ARE TURNED OFF. Now they must survive long enough for the rain to come. Completely compelling, devastating and thought-provoking, Thirsty Animals takes us on a captivating journey of survival and self-discovery.

'Original, timely, terrifying. Thirsty Animals takes a brutal yet deeply heartfelt look at survival, and kindness, and just how difficult it can be for the two to coexist at the extremes' CHRIS WHITAKER'Thirsty Animals is a hard-hitting speculative thriller, equal parts terrifying and compassionate. Beautifully written, vivid and unflinching, it confirms Atalla as a real talent' DOUG JOHNSTONE'Rachelle Atalla's second novel has shown her once again to be a master of slow-burning tension and unease .

. . The pace of the story builds to an unputdownable conclusion, and the characters will stay with the reader for a long time' CAILEAN STEED