Published 04.02.21
THE END OF EVERYTHING WAS HER BEGINNING
It's December 2023 and the world as we know it has ended.
The human race has been wiped out by a virus called 6DM ('Six Days Maximum' - the longest you've got before your body destroys itself).
But somehow, in London, one woman is still alive. A woman who has spent her whole life compromising what she wants, hiding how she feels and desperately trying to fit in. A woman who is entirely unprepared to face a future on her own.
Now, with only an abandoned golden retriever for company, she must travel through burning cities, avoiding rotting corpses and ravenous rats on a final journey to discover if she really is the last surviving person on earth.
And with no one else to live for, who will she become now that she's completely alone?
Five star Review
Devastating, hilarious and a spectacular journey of self discovery. A story of finding love and strength when you discover you are all alone in the world.
"‘Fuck You!’ Those are the very last words that I spoke to another living person. If I had known that they would be my last, I would have chosen them a bit more carefully. Something erudite, with a bit more drama."
And so begins our journey and what an exhilarating rollercoaster of a ride that is
I genuinely thought this book would increase my anxiety about the current pandemic but it engrossed my thoughts and locked out the world. It is riveting and the character is just like you or me. She's no survivalist and it makes you wonder what on earth you'd do.
At times I sobbed for humanity, for all the pain, the sadness and for her plight. But then I'd laugh at some of her actions thinking whoa that's so true and you had the bravery to voice it! I bet you think so too.
The author has thought of the real horrors of a pandemic and its not the done to death zombies that we have seen so many times before. Some of the hurdles here are petrifying yet I believed fully in their possibility and each one had me terrified. I'd never wish to face them, not even with an army, nevertheless each test she faces helps her grow.
But we also, through flashbacks see who she was before the pandemic and these sections really resonated with me. How many of us mould ourselves to fit, to match, to look right. Do we ever really know who we are or have we spent so long trying to be what's expected of us. Do our Chanel handbags matter if there is no-one there to see them?
The writing in this book is incredible, it's gritty and oh so real. The pace had my pulse racing and until I read how it finished, I was unable to move from the sofa. Even then, I was sad it had ended.
This story is a blockbuster of a novel, wrought with emotions and action and although it is deeply sad at times it is also a tale of beauty and of how love is always there.
Highly Recommended
