How High We Go in the Dark

Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2022

Finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize 2022

Finalist for the Ursula Le Guin Prize for Fiction 2022

Waterstones 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 series

Siberia, 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