My name is Rose, and I’m the last woman left alive.
So begins this novella that follows Rose’s final day, but it is also the first day of a future that few could have imagined.
Dark bleetings everyone! So, those who know me know that I’m getting increasingly obsessed with the work of Tim Lebbon. I already have a stack of his books on my TBR shelf, but a recent event I attended happened to coincide with a new novella release and it was right there on sale, so of course I had to get it (and Tim was kind enough to sign it for me, along with the stack of books I took!). Firstly, can we just take a second to admire the strange and gorgeous cover art? It’s even prettier in the bookish flesh. At around 60 pages, this is a quick read, but one that will not be quickly forgotten.
Rose is our protagonist and I love her. She’s very old, and that’s something you rarely see in a protagonist. There’s a tendency in this industry (and basically in all of entertainment) to turn the elderly into infantilised, doddering, confused shadows of people with no agency, which is why I tend not to like “old people horror” that much – when they are featured, they’re either suffering with dementia and for some reason it’s turned them into maniacs, or they’re stripped of their desires, sexuality, and personalities and reduced to nuisances. I loved King’s Insomnia for Ralph, and I love The Last Day and the First for Rose.
She’s a strong, pragmatic, and kind character who has to live through the deaths of everyone else she knows and loves, and she handles it like a boss. She lives in a small, self-sustaining community of people of similar ages, and they’re basically the last of us left after some event that has finally taken down humanity. There are scary things out in the world called “scorers” and they’re to be avoided at all costs. Things are uncertain and a little scary, and then Rose and her friends discover the bloom – a mysterious living organism like nothing they’ve ever known.
For a story about the complete demise of humanity, this novella is quiet, thoughtful, and in many ways, lovely. It’s full of love, wonder, and compassion, and what I felt most of all was an overwhelmingly peaceful acceptance of death and the end (though it’s just the end for us – the world will move on just fine). It’s not at all a story that demonises people or implies the world will be better without us, but rather a hopeful tale about new life and the continuation of everything else we’re connected to after we pass. The final days of the characters are beautiful, treasured, and handled gently (well… I’m lying actually…. this isn’t how it ends for ALL of them….).
Even for a writer whose work I adore generally, I think this particular book might be special. I’ve never read anything like it. Who would I recommend it to? I don’t know… everyone? There are shades of horror for sure, but it’s certainly not only for horror fans. I actually think there might be some comfort to be found here if you’ve recently gone through grief.
If you’d like to get your own copy or check out the author, the links you need are below:
Happy Goat Horror 
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