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THE END OF EVERYTHING WAS HER BEGINNING
It’s December 2023 and the world as we know it has ended.
The human race has been wiped out by a virus called 6DM (‘Six Days Maximum’ – the longest you’ve got before your body destroys itself).
But somehow, in London, one woman is still alive. A woman who has spent her whole life compromising what she wants, hiding how she feels and desperately trying to fit in. A woman who is entirely unprepared to face a future on her own.
Now, with only an abandoned golden retriever for company, she must travel through burning cities, avoiding rotting corpses and ravenous rats on a final journey to discover if she really is the last surviving person on earth.
And with no one else to live for, who will she become now that she’s completely alone?
***
‘I adored this book . . . It’s about who you are with nobody to witness you, what it means to be human, and how to live’ Gillian McAllister
‘Sharp, funny, emotional and a refreshingly different take on a post-apocalyptic world’ Lisa Hall
‘A fresh, frank, funny and surprisingly uplifting book about the end of the world’ Elizabeth Kay
It’s December 2023 and the world as we know it has ended.
The human race has been wiped out by a virus called 6DM (‘Six Days Maximum’ – the longest you’ve got before your body destroys itself).
But somehow, in London, one woman is still alive. A woman who has spent her whole life compromising what she wants, hiding how she feels and desperately trying to fit in. A woman who is entirely unprepared to face a future on her own.
Now, with only an abandoned golden retriever for company, she must travel through burning cities, avoiding rotting corpses and ravenous rats on a final journey to discover if she really is the last surviving person on earth.
And with no one else to live for, who will she become now that she’s completely alone?
***
‘I adored this book . . . It’s about who you are with nobody to witness you, what it means to be human, and how to live’ Gillian McAllister
‘Sharp, funny, emotional and a refreshingly different take on a post-apocalyptic world’ Lisa Hall
‘A fresh, frank, funny and surprisingly uplifting book about the end of the world’ Elizabeth Kay
Reviews
Brilliant. Creepy, witty, laugh-out-loud and shudder-inducing
I adored this book . . . It's about who you are with nobody to witness you, what it means to be human, and how to live (the answer is getting plastered in Harrod's, something we can all relate to)
A fresh, frank, funny and surprisingly uplifting book about the end of the world
Finished this last night and haven't stopped thinking about it since! Possibly my fave read of 2020 - sharp, funny, emotional and a refreshingly different take on a post-apocalyptic world
Really fun . . . like a dystopian Bridget Jones' Diary with echoes of Shaun of the Dead
Scary, emotional - and truly a novel for our times!
A compelling, engaging, enthralling novel that keeps the reader turning the pages
Bethany Clift's Last One at the Party stands out as a bold and humorous take on the [pandemic-based fiction] genre.
Funny but harrowing, unflinching and uplifting and so cinematic. I really loved it
Very relatable - an incredibly up-to-date feel
Fast-paced, tragic, wholesome and laugh-out-loud funny, Clift's debut has left me grateful for the little things, excited for what else she has to offer - and making plans for my apocalypse bunker
This dystopian novel is very funny, super-gory but a testament to the human spirit, which is also oddly life-affirming
This post-apocalyptic rollercoaster ride is full of belly-aching humour and the touching tale of a woman faced with the end of the world
You need to read this one. Darkly witty, but also deeply moving, this is a brilliant debut
Clift's novel is a riotous, black-humoured tonic to get you through this latest national lockdown
There are no holds barred in this cracking, remorselessly funny debut
I inhaled it in two sittings
A true pandemic page-turner, with a satisfactorily chilling end . . .
Last One At The Party is brilliant and creepy, yet surprisingly funny and feminist
Thoroughly enjoyable and warmly recommended. Think of it as a literary version of 28 Days Later: terrifying, convincingly constructed, heart-pounding at times, often blackly funny
A phenomenal book!!!! I've just finished it and am blown away . . . original, brutal, funny and hugely addictive! I just know I'm not going to be able to stop thinking about it for a long time
Tense
Clift has written a story that feels uniquely personal to its female protagonist. For all her lows, there are genuine highs, and for all her fears, there are wonders to counterbalance the desolation of her situation.
Amazing. Unsettling and dark and SO clever. One of the most unnerving books I've ever read
If you want something super original and mad and at times, both moving and VERY FUNNY, this is it
I haven't been so consumed by a book for a long time. This is a masterpiece of modern fiction, which I have raced through it in a few days. It has consumed my thoughts and will stay with me for a long time
Funny and profanity-laden, you could call this "Bridget Jones Does the Apocalypse"
I obsessively read Last One at the Party - a novel about a horrifying pandemic which ends up being about female resourcefulness and the power of love
Reading it will either help your mental health or provide extra nightmare fuel. Maybe both.
Plenty of style, originality and verve
The novel expertly walks the line between profane and thoughtful, and is as much about the why of surviving as it is about the how
A true pandemic page-turner, with a satisfactorily chilling end
A joyful, gutwrenching car crash of remorse, pluck, gross indulgence and shopping
So dark. So funny. So mad . . . A truly epic, apoca-f*cking-lyptic read
Unforgettable and original and so many other things. Touching and poignant, crude and strangely voyeuristic, timely and deeply relatable. It had the power to make me reflect about so many things. Loved it. Five stars for sheer originality
