In June of 2020, I published a cult escape/pandemic mashup novel, Agnes at the End of the World. Of course, pandemic novels aren’t for everyone right now, but there are some readers, like myself, who seek out what frightens us in fiction to survive our present moment. I read a bajillion pandemic novels before embarking on my own, and I hope that it helps someone, as novels have always helped me. Ultimately, every pandemic novel is about social ills, large and small, and about grief. They remind us that we’re all in this complex world together, telling stories around a campfire to shine some light in the dark.
I wrote...
Agnes at the End of the World
By
Kelly McWilliams
What is my book about?
Agnes loves her home of Red Creek—its quiet, sunny mornings, its dusty roads, and its God. There, she cares tirelessly for her younger siblings and follows the town's strict laws. What she doesn't know is that Red Creek is a cult, controlled by a madman who calls himself a prophet. Then Agnes meets Danny, an Outsider boy, and begins to question what is and isn't a sin.
As the Prophet grows more dangerous, Agnes realizes she must escape with her brother Ezekiel and leave everyone else behind. But Outside a viral pandemic is burning through the population at a terrifying rate. In a world where faith, miracles, and cruelty have long been indistinguishable, will Agnes be able to choose between saving her family and saving the world?
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The Books I Picked & Why
Parable of the Sower
By
Octavia E. Butler
Why this book?
I’ve loved Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower since I was a kid, and if you’re looking for a strangely hopeful book featuring a serious survivor as a main character, pack this in your go-bag. Like all great apocalyptic novels, it’s a careful examination of society’s ills, and racism, and classism as are much of a plague as the actual plague in the novel. As a bonus, it’s one of the rare science fiction novels I encountered during my 90’s childhood that features characters of color.
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Fever 1793
By
Laurie Halse Anderson
Why this book?
This historical YA novel is remarkable for its sensitive and vivid portrayal of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. I recommend it for kids and teens looking for historical analogs to our present moment. I strongly believe that an understanding of the past is the best way to contextualize the present.
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Severance
By
Ling Ma
Why this book?
Severance is the eeriest book of the bunch, and it uses the conceit of the pandemic to examine capitalism and its ills—among them, enforced solitude and chronic loneliness. In 2020, we all learned something about the loneliness of quarantine, and I found this novel to be a wise companion.
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Contagion
By
Erin Bowman
Why this book?
Contagion is my oh-so-scary recommendation for teens with a taste for mystery—it’s also the pandemic book on the list that is most escapist, in its way, being set in outer space. It’s impossible not to root for Bowman’s characters, and it’s fascinating to see pandemic literature travel off-planet.
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A Beginning at the End
By
Mike Chen
Why this book?
A Beginning at the End is probably the novel I’d recommend to most readers now, because it’s not just about a pandemic—it’s the story of a pandemic’s long aftermath. The novel paints of picture of societal resilience and growth, and individuals holding out hope for the future after the greatest of tragedies.
