Not Alone (Hardback) - Sarah K Jackson

A gripping and sensational debut novel tracing the harrowing journey of a mother and son fighting for survival and a future in a country ravaged by environmental disaster.

IN A DYING WORLD, HOW FAR WILL A MOTHER GO TO SAVE HER CHILD?

'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

Five years ago, a toxic microplastics storm killed most of the population. Now Katie, a young mother, must forage and hunt the few surviving animals for meat as she attempts to feed her little boy, Harry.

At a time when stepping outside could kill you, Harry is kept indoors at all costs, never venturing beyond the door to their one-bedroom flat. The bodies begin to build up around them and layers of poisonous dust hang heavily in the air, seeping into the soil and slowly killing anything attempting to cling onto the natural world.

Then, after years without human contact, Katie and Harry are terrified by the unwelcome arrival of another survivor. Katie realises she must undertake a previously unthinkable journey in search of the man she was supposed to marry and a new life for her son.

But outside their safe haven, Katie and Harry encounter a dangerous world that is forever changed . . .

About the Author

Sarah K. 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 Masters in Conservation Ecology at Oxford Brookes University.