How High We Go in the Dark

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2022FINALIST FOR THE BARNES & NOBLE DISCOVER PRIZE 2022FINALIST FOR THE URSULA LE GUIN PRIZE FOR FICTION 2022WATERSTONES AND ESQUIRE BEST BOOKS OF 2022‘Haunting and luminous … An astonishing debut’ – Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen and V for Vendetta’A powerfully moving and thought provoking read. At times sublime, strange and deeply human’ Adrian Tchaikovsky, bestselling author of the Children of Time seriesSiberia, 2031. After a virus, unearthed from melting permafrost, unleashes a deadly plague upon humanity, those left alive are forced to adapt to a new world, and do so in myriad moving and inventive ways.

Among those adjusting to this new normal are an aspiring comedian, employed by a theme park designed for terminally ill children, who falls in love with a mother trying desperately to keep her son alive; a scientist who, having failed to save his own son from the plague, gets a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects — a pig — develops human speech; and a widowed painter and her teenage granddaughter who must set off on cosmic quest to locate a new home planet. A story of unshakeable hope that seamlessly crosses literary lines, How High We Go in the Dark follows a cast of intricately linked characters spanning hundreds of years as humankind endeavours to restore the delicate balance of the world. Wonderful and disquieting, dreamlike and all too possible.

[How High We Go in the Dark] reaches far beyond our stars while its heart remains rooted to Earth, and reminds us that our wellbeing depends on the wellbeing of our world – Samantha Shannon, author of The Priory of the Orange Tree