How do you start over after the end of the world?

Six years after a global pandemic wiped out most of the planet’s population, the survivors are rebuilding the country, split between self-governing cities, hippie communes and wasteland gangs.

In post-apocalyptic San Francisco, former pop star Moira has created a new identity to finally escape her past—until her domineering father launches a sweeping public search to track her down. Desperate for a fresh start herself, jaded event planner Krista navigates the world on behalf of those too traumatized to go outside, determined to help everyone move on—even if they don’t want to. Rob survived the catastrophe with his daughter, Sunny, but lost his wife. When strict government rules threaten to separate parent and child, Rob needs to prove himself worthy in the city’s eyes by connecting with people again.

Krista, Moira, Rob and Sunny are brought together by circumstance, and their lives begin to twine together. But when reports of another outbreak throw the fragile society into panic, the friends are forced to finally face everything that came before—and everything they still stand to lose.

Because sometimes having one person is enough to keep the world going.

This is a truly different take on what goes on after a global pandemic; probably not since Alas, Babylon, has a book focused so much on, not how people got there, but where do they go from here. Yes, the pandemic is important, since it set the stage for what was to come. But people lives must go on.

All four characters are well drawn, though Sunny probably not as much as the grownups, since there is less history to draw from. Yet, at the same time, she is very much in the center of what is going on with the three people within her orbit. So while Sunny’s character changes very little, Krista’s, Moira’s, and Rob’s certainly do. All three must face the mistakes of their pasts, and deal with them within the difficult surroundings of a world vastly changed. How they do so shows their growth as individuals. Even more importantly, it shows that, just maybe, there will still be a future for them.




( Mount TBR 2025 Book Links 1-20 )

21. We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
22. America First: Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War by H.W. Brands
23. American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham
24. The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
25. A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen