SHORTLISTED FOR THE GUARDIAN'S NOT THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019

A strange virus is sweeping the globe.

Humans have become allergic to one another.

Simply standing next to somebody could be a death sentence.

A kiss could be fatal.

Angela is a woman trying to get by in this bewildering new world. Though she still lives with her husband and children, they lead separate lives. Confined to their rooms, they communicate via their computers and phones. In some ways, very little has changed.

That is, until she spots a mysterious stranger walking through town without even a face mask for protection. A man, it seems, immune to this disease. A man unlike anyone else she knows. A man it might just be safe to touch...

'If Brave New World and 1984 were combined and whisked into this century, they couldn't be more impressive than Liam Brown's superb story' Celia Anderson

'Gripping and thought provoking… I loved every moment of it' Hannah Persaud

'A lyrical dystopian fever dream' Margot Douaihy

Liam Brown is the author of four novels, Real Monsters (2015), Wild Life (2016), Broadcast (2017), and Skin (2019). His work has been published internationally, translated into several languages and optioned by a major Hollywood studio. He lives in Birmingham, England, with his wife and two children.