The End We Start From

Megan Hunter

03 May 2018
9781509843985
144 pages

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.
The End We Start From is a beautifully spare, haunting meditation on the persistence of life after catastrophe. I loved it.
A shot of distilled story . . . engrossing, compelling and finally hopeful