Seventeen-year-old Alexis struggles to fit in to the extremely religious valley where she lives, not helped by strange birthmarks that have begun to glow.

When a tidal wave devastates the valley, just the latest freak disaster, Alexis goes into hiding to avoid being taken in by the state.

As she becomes closer to Theo, he reveals that he is a sentinel and believes she is one too. He explains that if she regains her power they can bring an end to the disasters.

Curently working as Digital Content and Marketing Manager for NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Eira Morgan-Jones has previously published three children’s books: Tales from Cardinham Woods, A Christmas Tale from Cardinham Woods and Ella and the Beast. She has also worked as the ghost-writer of a regular doctor’s column for the Basingstoke Gazette. Eira has a Bachelors Degree in English Literature from the University of Glamorgan and a Masters Degree in Professional Writing from Falmouth University. Eira is based in Southampton.

Awarded LoveReading4Kids May 2026 Debut of the Month

“You’re not like the others and you never could be… You’re not meant for a life of submission…You’re meant for something more, my wild bird”. Such is seventeen-year-old Alexis described by her mother near the start of Sentinel of the Sun, Eira Morgan-Jones’ unique YA fantasy debut, which is driven by its protagonist’s fierce fight to survive and fathom who she really is.

Alexis has always been an outcast in her rural valley home: “Since her earliest childhood she had felt like a solitary question mark in a row of full stops.” Born with mysterious markings on her forearms, she lives in a strict religious community that’s all-but decimated by a ferocious tidal wave. While trying to survive in the wilderness beyond her ruined home, she finds out about the sentinels, and ancient forces that are struggling to maintain the balance of nature, and then comes the earth-shattering moment Alexis discovers where she fits into this strange order of things.

Intricately woven with potent themes, among them identity, environmentalism, patriarchy, state control, and religious totalitarianism, Sentinel of the Sun is also radiant with emotion and the power of female friendship through a fast-paced, thought-provoking story.

Joanne Owen. LoveReading4Kids