Not with a Bang - by Temi Oh (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Station Eleven meets Leave the World Behind in this family drama at the end of the world about a crumbling household's attempts to find their way back to each other amidst a cataclysmic event.

"Our father had imagined the end of the world so often that, for a while, he believed that he summoned it."

The Minton family is in crisis. After losing his job, Marcus begins stockpiling cans, running evacuation drills and digging a doomsday bunker in the back garden. At the same time, his daughters are unravelling in their own ways - Chantale is being haunted by dreams of disaster, and Briar's obsession with a missing classmate draws her deeper into the seductive world of a UFO cult. Meanwhile, no one is aware of the diagnosis their mother has been trying to keep hidden.

When, on the morning of the eldest daughter's wedding, an extinction-level event tears the world apart, the Mintons must fight their way through a devastated city--back to safety, survival, and each other.

Review Quotes

"A cinematic, thrilling take on the apocalypse and a deeply moving portrait of a family losing and finding each other. Temi Oh writes my favourite kind of science fiction: grounded in the human, reaching for the stars."--Catriona Silvey, author of Meet Me in Another Life

"I found myself sucked into this addictive family drama in which the characters feel like real, breathing human beings with their own idiosyncrasies and fatal flaws... The promise of the world's end is fulfilled in brutal, shocking fashion."--Hana Lee, author of Road to Ruin

"Told in a confident, lyrical voice with a sharp focus on characters and society, this narrative reveals that no matter how alien the circumstances, we will always be human. An out-of-this-world tale grounded in day-to-day realities."
--Kirkus Magazine (Starred Review)

"Temi Oh ratchets up the tension in this brilliant apocalyptic novel with exquisite, horrifying realism. A fantastic combination of family dynamics, flawed yet sympathetic characters and cult mentality make this story of an extraordinary disaster utterly compelling."--Emma Newman, author of Planetfall

"Part apocalyptic thriller and part family drama, Not with a Bang is a deeply compelling tale set at the end of the world as we know it. Oh explores complex relationships with wit and enormous empathy. Every time I thought I knew a character inside and out, yet another layer was revealed; few books will keep you on your toes the way this one does. Thought-provoking, ambitious, and full of love - despite the horrors."
--Kemi Ashing-Giwa, author of The Splinter in the Sky

"The very human story of the end of the world, and what happens after, a compelling and haunting read."--Adrian Tchaikovsky, Hugo award-winning author of the Children of Time series

About the Author

Temi Oh is a British Nigerian science fiction author, screenwriter, and neuroscientist. She is the author of the American Library Association's Alex Award-winning Do You Dream of Terra-Two?, More Perfect, and Not With a Bang. She has also written stories for Marvel's Black Panther, Doctor Who, and Overwatch. Her first short film Murmur was funded by Sky Arts and the BFI. Since then, she has written on the Netflix series Castlevania: Nocturne and the CBBC series Silverpoint.