If you were faced with the end of the world – literally, what would haunt you the most? Would it be the unknown possibilities of the future – the terrors ahead – or would it be your past; the decisions you made, the promises you broke, the behaviours that defined you?
“The End of the Road” explores the fate of disparate and unconnected individuals (at least some are at first), who mostly do the latter – when they’re not busy just trying to survive. It’s clever writing. As she lets their stories and regrets unfold, Anna Legat can paint a portrait of the one central character they all have in common. Our world.
And what a greedy, shallow, depraved world it is, with little to commend it. Until she demonstrates the reverse of the coin; that once faced with adversity, her ensemble responds with courage, endeavour, purpose and endurance.
Thus she is able to give us a scintilla of a glimmer of a possibility that the end is not … well, the end.
And therein lies hope for all of us.
All-out war spins out of control, and it doesn’t discriminate. Governments fall, continents are obliterated, deadly viruses consume everything in their path, and what’s left of humanity is on the run. Caught in this global refugee crisis are a few unlikely survivors.
Tony, a philandering London lawyer, escapes the doomed city and his own murky past as he evacuates to the continent.
A hapless flock of Belgian nuns prays for a miracle as they watch their city turn to rubble.
Bella, a naïve teenager, thinks she is going on holiday when her father drags her across the globe to New Zealand.
Reggie, a loyal employee of a mining corporation, guards a hoard of diamonds in the African plains, fending off desperate looters.
Alyosha, a nuclear scientist, has been looking for the God-particle in Siberia, but now the world is at an end, he wishes to return home to Chernobyl.
A pair of orphaned children are cowering in the Tatra Mountains, fearing the sky will fall in on them.
Will they find an escape route before it is too late? Or are they doomed to fail?
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Thank you for your wonderful endorsement, Meg! x
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You are totally welcome, Anna. 🙂
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