The End We Start From
Megan Hunter
Synopsis
A startlingly beautiful story of a family's survival, The End We Start From is a haunting but hopeful dystopian vision of a familiar world made dangerous and unstable.
'Engrossing, compelling' - Naomi Alderman, author of The Power
'I was moved, terrified, uplifted – sometimes all three at once' - Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring
Megan Hunter's honed and spare prose paints an imagined future as realistic as it is frightening. Though the country is falling apart around them and its people are forced to become refugees, this family’s world – of new life and new hope – sings with love.
In the midst of a mysterious environmental crisis, as London is submerged below flood waters, a woman gives birth to her first child. Days later, the family are forced to leave their home in search of safety. As they move from place to place, shelter to shelter, their journey traces both fear and wonder as the baby's small fists grasp at the things he sees, as he grows and stretches, thriving and content against all the odds.
With Benedict Cumberbatch calling it ‘a stunning tale of motherhood’, film rights have been sold to his production company SunnyMarch.
The End We Start From is strange and powerful, and very apt for these uncertain times. I was moved, terrified, uplifted – sometimes all three at once. It takes skill to manage that, and Hunter has a poet’s understanding of how to make each word count.Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring
The End We Start From is a beautifully spare, haunting meditation on the persistence of life after catastrophe. I loved it.Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven
A shot of distilled story . . . engrossing, compelling and finally hopefulNaomi Alderman, author of The Power, winner of the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction