Not Alone

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Not Alone kept me breathless with tension.' - Emma Donoghue, bestselling author of Room 'Intensely moving, genuinely gripping, plausible and absorbing' - Charlotte Mendelson, author of The Exhibitionist In a world very close to our own, a mother and her young son desperately fend for themselves in the confinement of their one bedroom flat. Five years ago, a toxic microplastics storm killed most of the population. Now Katie must forage and hunt the few surviving animals for meat as she attempts to feed her little boy, to care for him as best she can. At a time when stepping outside could kill you, Harry is kept indoors at all costs, never venturing beyond the entrance to their building, never knowing the truth of how he came to call this place home. Bodies continue to build up around them, inescapable layers of toxic dust hang heavily in the air and Katie is only getting sicker. Then, after years without human contact, Katie and Harry are terrified by the arrival of another survivor and Katie knows she must finally undertake a previously unthinkable journey in search of the man she was supposed to marry. In search of a new life for her son. Outside their safe haven, Katie and Harry encounter a world that is forever changed. There are new threats to their safety here, fellow survivors who are determined to start a new population, to save the world they so desperately misunderstood. Katie is pushed to unimaginable lengths as she pushes ahead in search of a better life and as Harry's safety wavers in the balance. As they travel further north, leaving their once safe haven so far behind them, Katie knows how much harder it will be to return if things go wrong. In Not Alone, Sarah K. Jackson combines heart-stopping adventure, with a deeply felt and vividly imagined central bond between mother and child which transcends the world around them. This stunning debut is about love, trust, hope and the looming threat facing us all.

Reviews

Not Alone kept me breathless with tension. An outstandingly credible and gripping adventure story, rooted in a deep understanding of both ecology and family. -- Emma Donoghue, bestselling author of Room andThe Wonder
Intensely moving, genuinely gripping, plausible and absorbing; this is a stunningly debut by a truly talented new writer -- Charlotte Mendelson, author of The Exhibitionist
The emotionally wrenching story of a young mothers fight to save her young son as they struggle across a toxic and hostile world. The tension never lets up. Utterly believable, always compelling, and deeply moving. I loved it. -- Ian Irvine, author of A Shadow on the Glass
A gutwrenching, whiteknuckle postapocalyptic thriller, a story of love and perseverance. -- Gabriel Tallent, New York Times bestselling author of My Absolute Darling
Harrowing and achingly human, Not Alone is a sharp exploration of environmental apocalypse and a celebration of pure, boundless love that can survive anything. This triumphant debut finds hope in the darkest places, and it made me want to be a better person. -- AllisonEpstein, author of A Tip for the Hangman
Sarah K. Jacksons Not Alone is an ode to ferocious power of motherhood, even in the face of Earths utter devastation. Part dire warning, part love song, Not Alone explores how, like a tree bending toward sunlight, life may endure if our worst climate nightmares become reality. Haunting, endearing, and captivating. -- Caroline Woods, author of The Cigarette Girl
Tense, brutal, and tender, Not Alone cuts to the core of how and why we survive. Jackson gives readers a truly harrowing adventure about the pull of light in the darkest hour. -- Erika Swyler, bestselling author of The Book of Speculation
Five years before the start of Jacksons impressive debut, hurricanes across the globe lifted trillions of microplastic particles from the worlds oceans. The atmosphere became saturated with those pollutants, and breathing became deadly. One survivor, Katie, has devoted herself to keeping her son, Harry, who was born after the calamity, alive and well. * Publisher's Weekly *
Ecologist Jackson makes her debut with this engrossing postapocalyptic cli-fi thriller that will have readers anxiously turning the pages and questioning their use of plastic. * Library Journal *
With hauntingly beautiful descriptions of the natural world, this challenging novel is tough and memorable. * Guardian *

Author Bio

Sarah Jackson is an ecologist specializing in botany, and has a keen interest in human-wildlife coexistence, conservation, climate change and microplastics pollution. Her job has taken her all around the UK, scrambling through woodland, paddling up rivers, squelching through mountain bogs and also sometimes overseas. She studied Psychology and Criminology at Cardiff University, before doing a Master's in Conservation Ecology at Oxford Brookes University.