Afterland

by Lauren Beukes

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Pub Date 3 Sep 2020 | Archive Date 30 Sep 2020

Penguin UK - Michael Joseph | Michael Joseph

General Fiction (Adult) | Sci Fi & Fantasy

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Description

The compulsive and long-awaited new thriller from the author of Richard and Judy bestseller The Shining Girls and the prize-winning Zoo City

'A major, major talent' George R. R. Martin
________

Three years after a virus wiped out 99% of the men on earth, a mother and son are on the run . . .

All Cole has left in the world is her boy, Miles.

With men now a prized commodity, keeping him safe means breaking hastily written new rules - and leaving her own sister for dead.

All Miles has left in the world is his mother.

But is one person enough to save him from the many who would kill to get their hands on a living boy?

Together, Cole and Miles embark on a journey across a changed, hostile country, towards a freedom they may never reach. And when Cole's sister tracks them down, they'll need to decide who to trust - and what loyalty really means in this unimaginable new world.

Praise for Lauren Beukes:

'Beukes is very *very* good. It feels effortless, utterly accomplished' William Gibson

'Beukes brings a secret tenderness and humanity to her off-kilter portrait of the here and now' Guardian

'Exquisitely paced and impeccably controlled. An enormously satisfying novel' New York Times Book Review

'Beukes deals with slightly surreal things in very real ways. I'm all over it' Gillian Flynn

The compulsive and long-awaited new thriller from the author of Richard and Judy bestseller The Shining Girls and the prize-winning Zoo City

'A major, major talent' George R. R. Martin
________

Three...

Advance Praise

Praise for Lauren Beukes

Unreservedly recommended, Joe Hill

Brilliant ... engrossing ... I will be looking forward to whatever Lauren Beukes does next. She's a major, major talent -- George RR Martin, internationally bestselling author of, A Song of Ice and Fire

Scary as hell and hypnotic. I couldn't put it down, Stephen King

I'm all over it -- Gillian Flynn, number one bestselling author of, Gone Girl

Part harrowing thriller, part fairytale, but always filled with a deeply affecting humanity. The kind of book you'll find yourself pressing into the hands of everyone you know so they can experience it too, Megan Abbott

Utterly original, beautifully written, and I must say, it creeped the holy bejasus out of me. This is something special -- Tana French

Masterful. Lauren Beukes is very *very* good -- William Gibson

A new kind of thriller. A dark, relentless, time-twisting, page-turning. It shines -- Matt Haig

Praise for Lauren Beukes

Unreservedly recommended, Joe Hill

Brilliant ... engrossing ... I will be looking forward to whatever Lauren Beukes does next. She's a major, major talent -- George RR...

Available Editions

EDITION	Other Format
ISBN	9780718182809
PRICE	£16.99 (GBP)
PAGES	320

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Additional Information

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Featured Reviews

lauren e, Reviewer

‘The future is female’; but what if that was the truth? Imagine a world in which a mystery illness wiped out 99% of the world’s male population and that is the reality for Cole and her son Miles.
This is a story about survival and a mother’s love as Cole will do anything to protect her child from a new world who considers him a commodity to be held captive and experimented upon. Miles and Cole cannot go home but they can’t even look to their own family for help as even his aunt, Billie, look to gain from her nephew’s immunity.
The pair encounter so many different groups of women that I appreciated the range of behaviours attributed to them as Lauren Beukes shows women can be everything from nurturing caregivers to power-hungry and violent in society.
I enjoyed the fast paced aspect of this novel as they seek out a safe haven but the reality that they can’t even trust their own family means that you’re rooting for them from the offset. The entire world is after a child and the humanity they once knew has been altered forever. A brilliant and exciting new thriller that absorbs you in their fight for freedom from beginning to end.