Longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize 2021

Shortlisted for the Bookmark Festival Book of the Year 2021

"I wasn’t sure there could be a great pandemic novel. Here it is." Ian Rankin

My dad taught us to be prepared for whatever was coming.

He said we should know the facts about how long we could survive without food, water or fresh air, and to remember that we couldn't live at all without hope. It was better, he said, to be ahead of the game.

Better to be ten years too early than one minute too late. That’s why he did what he did, on that morning …

Inspired by her father’s advance planning and her own ingenuity and courage, this is one teenage girl’s survival guide for navigating life under a new, even more deadly pandemic from the confines of a prepper compound. Will she ride out the collapse of everything she knows, and how can she save her family – and sanity?