In 1950, the English Church takes control of the country. Only the Secular Movement resists. That summer, churches burn. Riots break out and ministers are killed. The Church prepares emergency powers to expel the Movement to the Island. Thirty-six years later, the Island is home to the last of the Movement and their children, who are more virulently anti-religious than ever. Young vigilantes patrol the Island, intent on finding any signs of belief. On the other side of the North Sea, Sarah Wicks lives in a quiet, God-fearing village in England.

She was always told that her mother left with a lover. But one day Sarah discovers the truth: far from having an affair, Laura was arrested for the murder of a church minister, and may have been expelled to the Island. Sarah is determined to go and find her at whatever cost. But she arrives on the Island in the midst of escalating tensions between two of the gang members, each of whom is determined to assert his dominance, and it soon becomes clear that the cost may be toohigh. With shades of A Clockwork Orange, The Godless Boys is a book about faith and life without faith; about love, lust and longing. But above all, it's about power, and how dangerous it can be to stand out from the crowd. Written in taut, tight prose, it's a remarkable debut, and clearly marks Naomi Wood as a name to note.