Sunny at the end of the world by Steph Bowe

It is 2018 and zombies have taken most of the adults in the world. 17-year-old Sunny and Toby are on the run, trying desperately to stay alive. Cut to 2034 and Sunny is attempting to escape from an underground facility where she has been held prisoner for years. The reader is immediately faced with some haunting questions. What has caused the outbreak of the virus and why has Sunny stayed alive although infected? Will Toby and baby Veronica make it unscathed?

I was grabbed by the first chapter opening, where Sunny discusses how she and her parents would kill each other rather than being taken by the zombies and from then on, I was hooked. Bowe effortlessly took me across  the dual timelines of 2018 and 2034, vividly describing the zombie invasion in 2018 and then the incarceration of Sunny in an underground facility. Her escape and subsequent trip from Sydney to the Gold Coast is thrilling, with action galore.

Some big themes are explored too. The importance of loyalty to family, biological and found, is explored and the reader will relate to Toby’s courage in caring for baby Veronica. There are also questions about the ethics of a totalitarian government keeping people underground and whether a virus was used to create the zombies.

What makes Sunny at the end of the world so memorable is that the manuscript was found on Steph Bowe’s computer after she tragically passed away at the age of 25. It is at once thought provoking and funny with wonderful characters and a mind-blowing plot. It is not to be missed.

Themes: Dystopian fiction, Zombies, Viruses, Survival, Family.

Pat Pledger