At least, I have that problem, and this story feels like it's helped me. This story will also help your existential crisis that may keep you up half an hour before bed at midnight. ThoughtsĪ very apt read during lockdown with plenty of twists to thought-provoking cultural references to keep things interesting.This story helped me realise that the things we really prize about our humanity - love, kindness, connection - they are universal, eternal, and will never snuffed out no matter what. I guess it’s a sign of a good story where I’m left wanting more. Maybe I’m just used to it taking 300+ pages for the protagonists to even reach their goal, let alone finish the book. This was great but I felt it came to a pretty abrupt conclusion. It’s one of those books where for the first two thirds not a whole lot happens, then in the last third, boom lots of action. This “shortness” did have a negative side though.

It also meant that the story got going pretty quickly. This book is a lot shorter than the ones I would usually pickup, but it made a refreshing change to read something “lighter”. The use of social media and news outlets in the “past” sections, to start to introduce teasers and further insight into the main story, was a great idea. I loved the switching between present day and the “past” (even when that past is in today’s future!). The symptoms weren’t even that bad, nothing worse than a mild flu”

“No one knows exactly where it came from – whether it mutated from animal disease or was somehow caused by pollution – but within weeks it had spread across the planet.

Lines like this were really close to home What I loved about itĪs I was reading this during the Covid-19 Lockdown this was a pretty relevant book. It was then the recommended read for my local reading group so I picked it up. I’ve heard this author talked about a lot and this new title came up on my radar. Now Lowrie and Shen face an impossible choice: in the quiet at the end of the world, they must decide what to sacrifice to save the whole human race… Why did I pick it? Closeted in a pocket of London and doted upon by a small, ageing community, the pair spend their days mudlarking and looking for treasure – until a secret is uncovered that threatens not only their family but humanity’s entire existence. How far would you go to save those you love? Lowrie and Shen are the youngest people on the planet after a virus caused global infertility. The Quiet at the End of the World Synopsis

The quiet at the end of the world