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<p><b>SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION</b><br><b>SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG FICTION READERS AWARD</b><br><br><b>'Stunning' Maggie O'Farrell</b><br><b>'Gorgeous, funny and deadly serious</b><b>' Max Porter </b><br><b>'This is so good. We are not ready nor worthy' Ocean Vuong</b><br><br><b>An obligatory note of hope, in a world going to hell.</b><br><br><i>'What are you afraid of, he asks me and the answer of course is dentistry, humiliation, scarcity, then he says what are your most useful skills? People think I'm funny.'</i><br><br> Lizzie Benson, a part-time librarian, is already overwhelmed with the crises of daily life when an old mentor offers her a job answering mail from the listeners of her apocalyptic podcast, Hell and High Water. Soon questions begin pouring in from left-wingers worried about climate change and right-wingers worried about the decline of Western civilization. <br><br>Entering this polarized world, Lizzie is forced to consider who she is and what she can do to help: as a mother, as a wife, as a sister, and as a citizen of this doomed planet.<br><br> <b>'A barometer of how it feels to live now' <i>Sunday Times</i><br><br> 'No one writes about the intersection of love and existential despair like Jenny Offill' Jia Tolentino, author of <i>Trick Mirror</i></b></p>