In a post-Ice Age UK, the majority of the population suffers from debilitating migraines, which come as preludes to the violent storms that rage across the country. People are bed-bound for a day with headaches and nausea until they finally sleep, and the next day, they are confused and unsteady, needing time to recover. Elliott, however, is one of the few who didn’t develop migraines and lives a charmed life where the storms don’t bother him. Until one day, out for a run, he suffers from his first migraine and is rescued from collapsing in the streets by a stranger. In the wake of his new understanding of how everyone else feels, Elliott’s thoughts turn to Luna, his ex-girlfriend, and he is consumed with the need to see her again. Along with Sam, the well-meaning stranger who helped him, Elliott navigates across London’s changed landscape to find her, appreciating for the first time the changes made to society to support sufferers, and delving into his less-than-sympathetic past.
Confession time, I have suffered from migraines since I was a child. And I don’t mean when people refer to a bad headache as a migraine, I mean full-on debilitating pain, vomiting, slurred speech, hallucinations, out of action for 48 hours, migraines. So, it shouldn’t surprise you that I read this book. How could I not? Migraine shines a spotlight on what it is like to have a real migraine, and I found the descriptions of an attack very realistic, starting with the uneasy awareness that one is coming, to the aftermath where your brain is heavy and not functioning correctly. It was weird to have my pain clearly and sympathetically described on a page and not downplayed.
The world-building is also excellent. Two disasters have hit London. The first is a mini ice age, in which snow fell for 5 years and froze everything. Then, there is The Thaw, where a huge amount of melted ice flooded the city. The ground is cracked, buildings are destroyed by the frozen water, and certain parts of the city are no-go areas due to flooding. Elliott describes the smell of rotting meat where butchers and other shops were frozen over, but are now defrosting, and communal looting for the survivors. It is a bleak London, even though communes are working together to grow their own food to supplement the food parcels from other countries. I found the idea of drug dealers using their setup to grow vegetables a wonderful detail.
The story itself felt a little confused. At first, it seems straightforward: Elliott wants to get his ex back now that he knows how she’s suffered. However, as the story progresses, it becomes clear that their backstory is not a simple one of a couple separated by an illness, but more to do with Elliott having a lack of identity that only bothered him once he had met Luna. There is a brilliantly scary second plot which explores how people without migraines feel marginalised by having to shape their world around sufferers. Certain non-sufferers are less tolerant, creating a ‘them and us’ situation and encouraging taking back what they feel is rightfully theirs. This sinister element added so much depth to the story because of its realism. However, Migraine is less than 200 pages long, at least my digital copy was, and I don’t feel there was enough space to cover both Elliott’s relationship with Luna and the Right-Wing approach to a new world where people with a debilitating illness are the majority, especially with the literary writing style used for this story.
That said, I did enjoy Migraine, if that is the right word for a book about suffering. It does a great job of separating actual migraines from a bad headache and shines a light on an illness that isn’t understood all that well. The ending is also powerful. Elliott has grown so much in this one journey that whether he gets back with Luna or not doesn’t matter. As a reader, you feel confident that, now he understands how other people feel, he has changed and will be able to discover who he is. He has a positive future, even if it is plagued with migraines. I would recommend this to anyone who loves post-apocalyptic societies and books about serious character growth.

A beautifully written book that is entirely unique. Loved the concept, loved the writing style. There's something abstract about it and it works really well. Solid read from start to finish.