Kids with telekinetic powers in a quarantined city (written by female author)

Question

I have been looking for this little sci-fi novel I read as a kid in the late 90's. By that time it already was pretty old.

I don't remember the storyline, but it was set in a quarantined city (I think in the US), the main character was a young female, some kids in the city had developed telekinetic powers, there was this cripple who also had powers and was somehow significant to the story. The title maybe include the words "children" and "light", but I didn't find anything.

It is a short book and probably not well known.

Appreciate any suggestions.

Answer 1

This may be a bit off from what you are asking, but your question brought this to mind

This Silver Sequence by Cliff McNish.

The Silver Sequence concerns 6 children with unusual powers: Tom (a ‘giver of beauty,’) Walter (a giant), twin girls Freda and Alice, and Milo, a boy who finally turns into a being with silver wings seven miles long. The story concerns the effort of these children to stop a single vast entity from destroying all life on Earth – an entity known only by the terrifying noise it makes: the Roar.

If I remember correctly, they are confined in a wasteland where only children with powers can go, a forcefield was pushing out the parents. I believe Milo may be something akin to crippled, I remember he couldn't really do anything, and he is very significant to the story.

Answer 2

Got it! "Sunburst" by Phyllis Gotlieb!

After reading through half of this list, I recognized the title (the german version of this wikipedia article also lists best known work). I ordered it right away (used, but who cares), man I cannot wait. Nostalgia ahoy!

For anyone interested, a short introduction:

A nuclear accident ravages a small town outside of Chicago, resulting in a government quarantine isolating it from the rest of the world. A generation later, with the quarantine still in place, strange mutations have affected the minds of the town's children -- mutations which could either spell the next stage in human evolution, or something far more sinister. As the children's psychic powers begin to manifest themselves in more demented and destructive forms, the kids escape their compound. Now it is up to Shandy Johnson and her friends to track down the runaways. Possessing similar powers, Sandy and her friends find themselves facing increasingly frightening confrontations with their escaped peers. First published in 1964 and again in 1978, Sunburst has lost neither its edge nor its relevance. Predating the near-misses and disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, Gotlieb reminds us of the tremendous forces we have at our fingertips -- powers that humans use daily but do not fully comprehend

PS I asked this question as a guest, is there any way to merge accounts or something?