by Maggie Gee
First published 1999
Saul lives in an abandoned airport where gangs of wild boys keep him alive for one reason: his gift for storytelling. The world has grown cold and civilization has crumbled. Children are precious and scarce. Most men pair with other men or seek comfort with robotic companions while women guard the few remaining young ones. Saul tells his captors about the time before, when the earth burned with heat and fertility began to fail. He remembers when he broke the rules that governed his dying world. While others accepted the new order of separation between sexes, Saul chose differently. He fell in love with a woman named Sarah. His stories weave between past and present, between the scorching days of his youth and the frozen wasteland of now, exploring whether love between man and woman can survive when the world itself conspires against it.
Genres: science-fiction, dystopia, romance, post-apocalyptic
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Airport, Earth
Period: Past, Present
256 pages · Paperback · John Blake
Content warnings: death, violence