This is a novel about life under authoritarianism and what, based on real-life examples, can be done to fight back.

As the teenage Agati struggles to feed her adopted sister in a poverty-stricken dictatorship, a mysterious figure arrives to offer them a way out. Taken to a competitive pop-star academy they only know from whispered rumour, Agati and Jün-Fi find that the life of stardom is not what it seems.

And nor is the iron hand of the government.

In the struggle to become idols, Agati must adapt to survive in an environment more punishing than life on the streets. But other forces are abroad in the Democratic People’s Republic of Ibban, forces which threaten to throw the entire country into anarchy. The two girls have a lot to learn, and some hard choices to make. Choices which will change the course of history.