The Mystery of the Third Seal by Margaret Pearce

The meek inherited the earth. But someone is still deciding who survives.

Sixteen-year-old James Tadworthy lives in a peaceful post-apocalyptic society where violence is unknown, disease has been eradicated, and the benevolent Shepherds of the Federation Church guide every community with wisdom and care. Life is safe. Life is harmonious. Life is controlled.

When James's pregnant friend Charity is secretly drugged and imprisoned by those same trusted Shepherds, everything he believed shatters. His brilliant tutor dies under suspicious circumstances. His friends are sentenced to "penance" from which no one returns. And James himself is hunted through the night and left for dead.

Rescued by his formidable grandmother—who knows far more about the world's dark secrets than she ever revealed—James descends into forbidden underground tunnels where ancient technology still hums and creatures from nightmare roam. Somewhere in the darkness lies the legendary "third seal", a vault of knowledge that could change everything.

But reaching it means confronting horrors that make the Shepherds' tyranny look merciful.

Inspired by H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, this gripping YA dystopian thriller explores the terrifying cost of engineered paradise—and what happens when the sheep finally see the wolves.

Genre: Young Adult Dystopian

ISBN: 978-1-920972-49-3

ISBN PRINT D2D: 9798201553159

ASIN: B003YUC9CK

Word count: 30, 351

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