The End of Everything by M. John Harrison- Booker Prize Finalist 2026

There’s something fitting about reading a novel set at the tideline while the real ocean sighs just outside our door. This one washed up on our shelves, and we haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

A haunting apocalyptic adventure, and a formidable exploration of what it means to be human in a shifting world, from “one of the very great writers alive today” (China Miéville).

Meet Phillip Tennent. He makes his living at the tideline, collecting the artefacts that wash up from the Channel. It’s been years since the crisis changed everything—though its exact nature remains stubbornly obscure. Government barely functions. The seas teem with strange new creatures. An entire continent has, somehow, been mislaid. It feels, quite simply, like the end.

Then Phillip fishes out an object he can’t keep. A creature that keeps changing. An artefact he must carry inland, before it unravels everything he thought he knew.

The End of Everything is a slyly satirical, deeply unsettling post-apocalyptic journey into the very limits of human understanding—delivered by a peerless master of contemporary fiction.

If you love literary science fiction that lingers long after the last page—think dystopian atmosphere with a razor-sharp psychological edge—settle in with this one. It’s the kind of book that rewards slow reading and quiet afternoons.

Perfect for a foggy day when the wind is up and the footbridge is fogged over. Pour something warm, find a comfortable chair, and let this strange, brilliant story pull you under.

A brand-new hardcover release, waiting on our shelves. Come browse—we’d love to help you make this discovery your own.

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