Milk

by Jack Spain

Karen Anderson was only nine, but she's was very precocious, and she remembered a time when there weren't any bars on her windows, when she could watch television, visit the parks, go to the shops, and people browsed the internet as they walked down the street. It was also a time when there were birds and squirrels and cats and dogs in her neighbour's gardens. A time when adults didn't always talk in whispers. A time when Mum lived at home. A time when there weren't soldiers on the streets, or talk of rationing. A time when you could buy milk chocolate. A time too when she still trusted her parents. It's different now. She knows that something isn't right. It's just the crisis they had told her. It will be over one day. Karen was about to find out the truth. It was just getting started, and it was just about to get a whole lot worse. And it was all because of the milk. Prequel to Jack Spain's Shetland

390 pages, Paperback

Published March 4, 2016

About the author

Jack Spain no longer writes.

Reviews

[rosemary mccay]

It's good. It's very good.

Bought this ages ago, probably around the time I got "Shetland", and somehow forgot to read it...... So it languished in my kindle library until yesterday. I came across it whilst looking for something else, decided to read it, and I'm glad I did. Great post-apocalyptic story told from a child's viewpoint. Set in the UK, viral plague, societal breakdown, complex family dynamic, moral dilemmas, good characterisation, nicely paced, and well written.

[Dana Hashem]

Solid apocalyptic novel

The ten year old heroine of this novel held my attention. Interesting narrative shows apocalypse through a (sometimes too unbelievably perceptive) child’s eyes.