'The best speculative thriller I have ever, ever read' Gillian McAllister

'Moving, thought-provoking and utterly gripping. I couldn't put it down, and read it in a single day' Sophie Hannah

'Seddon takes the reader on a harrowing journey through an authoritarian state much like the one in George Orwell's 1984' Booklist

Librarian Maya is traveling home from Edinburgh to London when her sleeper train is struck by lightning. She wakes the next morning in a version of London she doesn't recognize.

Not only is a stranger living in her apartment, but her husband Arthur has disappeared. Worse, in this reality, the Berlin Wall never fell, the Cold War never ended, and Britain is an authoritarian Soviet state. Maya's parents did not kiss by the falling Berlin wall while on their gap year travels, and so Maya was never born.

Confused, alone, and with nowhere to go, Maya stumbles across the resistance movement, in which librarians like her play a key part. Sent undercover into the heart of government, Maya must navigate this terrifying world while desperately trying to find the people she loves — and a way home.



Holly Seddon is the international bestselling author of Try Not to Breathe, Love Will Tear Us Apart, The Hit List and 59 Minutes. After growing up in the English countryside obsessed with music and books, Holly worked in London as a journalist and editor. After several years in Amsterdam, she now lives in Kent with her family and writes full time.