Afterland

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

'Powerful and intelligent . . . this welcome addition to the no-longer-so-speculative pandemic subgenre has plenty to say about grief, love, family ties and gender roles' Guardian

'A smartly written thriller that opens with a satisfying bang . . . splendid' Stephen King
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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.

Included in 'Best Books of Summer 2020' in Elle, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly and Oprah Magazine.

'Bowstring-taut, visceral, and incredibly timely: Beukes's plague-tale is a parable about the glory and terror of Americanism in times of calamity' Cory Doctorow

'A fast-moving thriller [that] splices gut-punching action sequences and feminist gender politics with an impressively light touch. Bubbles with big ideas. This intelligent speculative novel about a pandemic feels alarmingly close to home' Metro

'Afterland is that rare creature, a ripping tale that neither shies away from big questions nor interesting answers' New Scientist

'Lauren Beukes is a writer with a startling imagination, and a masterful ability to rewrite the rules of whatever genre she turns to' Ben Winters, author of Underground Airlines and Golden State