by M.P. Shiel
First published 1901
Adam Jeffson stands at the North Pole, the first human to achieve this feat. But his triumph turns hollow when he discovers a deadly cloud of sweet-smelling poison gas has swept across the planet, killing every living soul. Alone on a dead Earth, Jeffson wanders from city to city, searching desperately for any surviving human. The empty streets and silent buildings mock his solitude. As months pass without finding another person, his mind begins to crack under the weight of absolute isolation. His sanity fractures, and he starts setting fire to the abandoned cities he encounters. The explorer who once sought to conquer nature now destroys what remains of civilization. Jeffson's journey becomes a descent into madness as he grapples with being humanity's sole survivor in a world transformed into a vast graveyard.
Genres: fiction, 20th-century, adventure, 21st-century, apocalyptic
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: descent-into-madness, sole-survivor
Setting: North Pole
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
295 pages · Paperback · Penguin Classics
Content warnings: mental-illness