The City of Ember is a
post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by
Jeanne DuPrau that was published in 2003. Similar to
Suzanne Martel's
The City Under Ground published in 1963 and
Helen Mary Hoover's
This Time of Darkness published in 1980, the story is about Ember, an underground city threatened by aging infrastructure. The young
protagonist, Lina Mayfleet, and her friend, Doon Harrow (the second protagonist), follow clues left behind by the original builders of the City of Ember, to safety in the outside world.