Thirst

<p><b>''Every new novel by Giles Foden is something to celebrate - my hand leaps to the shelf'' PAUL THEROUX</b><br><b>''The most original and interesting novelist of his generation'' ALLAN MASSIE, <i>SCOTSMAN</i></b><br><br>2039, the Skeleton Coast of Namibia. 160,000 kilometres-square of ocean-crashed desert, littered with bones, shipwrecks and shattered dreams.<br><br><br>Cat Brosnan, a young scientist, has just arrived, aiming to track down a much-needed water source believed to lie hidden within this vast and hostile landscape.<br><br><br>Six years before, the search for that same fabled aquifer had led Cat''s own mother to abandon her daughter in Ireland, never to be heard of again.<br><br><br>Now Cat is ready to find out what happened to her mother, to succeed where she failed and finally discover the whereabouts of a freshwater reserve hidden under sand and rock.<br><br><br>But she''s not the only one looking for the aquifer: mining corporations want it, foreign governments too