Karen Clark Poisoned Trees and Yellow Grass

Poisoned Trees and Yellow Grass, a dystopian, futuristic novel, centers around the lives of four characters—an ovarian cancer sufferer, a victim of gang rape, a man who has been serving a life sentence for murder, and a traumatized adolescent who has been domestically abused—all of whose lives have been changed by the outbreak of nuclear war. Two are now free from their plights, one successfully plots revenge, and one is now no more in danger of dying than anyone else. Looting from the local provisions warehouse is a serious offence punishable by being forced to take part in the Eliminations at the East London Arena, where each offender is electrocuted after losing nine lives in the contest—an event in which survival is rare. But food and electricity are fast running out, and if mankind is to survive in the generations to come, post-war society has to change.