Author: Emily St. John Mandel

I’m noticing a theme to Dylan’s English class – the end of the world as we know it.

This book was published in 2014 but what it describes is a more severe case of the pandemic that was caused by Covid. This end-of-the-world scenario has been caused by the Georgian Flu, out of Russia. Small communities of people have survived; some are welcoming to strangers, others not so much.

The story starts with the on-stage death of a well-known actor who suffers a heart attack. The characters in the book are all related in some way to that event – ex-wives, friends, fellow actors, the paramedic who tried to help Arthur. There is also a group of people, called the Travelling Symphony, who go from community to community performing Shakespeare plays and symphonic music. No solution to the crisis is found but after twenty years many people have accepted their new way of life.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *