Books like 'Not Forgetting the Whale'
Readers who enjoyed Not Forgetting the Whale by John Ironmonger also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary sc-fi dystopia literary-fiction apocalyptic outdoors epidemy drama religion magical-realism
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Night Light by Terri Blackstock
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhat happens when the lights go out and don't come back on? At first, of course, the power shutdown seems like a minor inconvenience or even an occasion for merriment; but as this temporary crisis lengthens into months, it becomes apparent that this global blackout is a catastrophe of biblical proportions... -
Third Shift: Pact by Hugh Howey
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe third and final chapter of the Shift saga. This is part 8 of the Silo Series, which began with Wool... -
Playground by Richard Powers
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFour lives are drawn together in a sweeping, panoramic new novel from Richard Powers, showcasing the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world’s first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home... -
Fever by Deon Meyer
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNico Storm and his father Willem drive a truck filled with essential supplies through a desolate land. They are among the few in South Africa--and the world, as far as they know--to have survived a devastating virus which has swept through the country... -
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The Prequel by Patrick Higgins
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis is an alternate cover edition- ASIN B015L6BCEKIt was the weekend before Thanksgiving. More than 100,000 fans were jammed inside Michigan Stadium, on their feet, to witness a heated football rivalry that had spanned more than 100 years...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia spirituality action-adventure adult book christian contemporary -
Anarchy Rising by Arthur T. Bradley
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAnarchy Rising is the 2nd book in Dr. Bradley's Survivalist series. It features eleven full-page illustrations. The 3rd book, Judgment Day, is due out in January of 2014After the worst pandemic in mankind's history, anarchy threatens to break apart the United States. The government is years away from providing even the most basic necessities... -
The Stranding by Kate Sawyer
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRuth lives in the heart of the city. Working, drinking, falling in love: the rhythm of her vivid and complicated life there is set against a background hum of darkening news reports from which she deliberately turns away...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction apocalyptic outdoors disaster fiction post-apocalyptic sci-fi -
The Man from Earth by Jerome Bixby, Richard Schenkman
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRichard Schenkman / 6m, 3f / Drama / Unit Set After history professor John Oldman unexpectedly resigns from the University, his startled colleagues impulsively invite themselves to his home, pressing him for an explanation... -
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 78 ratingsSet in the days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear...Categorized as:
apocalyptic drama dystopia epidemy literary-fiction religion spirituality 21st-century -
The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse, Theodore Ziolkowski
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsThe final novel of Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game is a fascinating tale of the complexity of modern life as well as a classic of modern literature.Set in the twenty-third century, The Glass Bead Game is the story of Joseph Knecht, who has been raised in Castalia, the remote place his society has provided for the intellectual elite to grow and flourish...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism religion spirituality 20th-century adult audiobook -
Raging Storm by Vannetta Chapman
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the Darkness, Anarchy AwakensWhen a massive solar flare wiped out all modern technology across the globe, the small town of Abney, Texas, was thrown into chaos. Shelby Sparks and her teenage son, Carter, have found refuge, but Shelby knows she can't simply remain hidden forever... -
Falling Stars by Kyla Stone
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThey survived the Grand Voyager. They believed they were safe. They were wrong. After a violent ambush, the survivors find themselves thrust into a harsh, unrecognizable world. No communications. No shelter. No food. All they have is each other—a ragtag group of elites and misfits. Amelia faces her deadliest test yet. Guilt-ridden Willow must save her brother at any cost...Categorized as:
apocalyptic disaster drama dystopia epidemy literary-fiction action-adventure aliens -
America Falls: On the Run by Scott Medbury
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsNo Mazes. No factions. No games. AMERICA FALLS The only adult in the group has been shot. Can Isaac and Luke save Sonny? And if they can, how can they escape and get him and the rest of their group, to safety? They have transport and a destination, but the gang of killers is closing in fast - not to mention the occupying forces, armed to the teeth and hunting down America's survivors... -
Breakdown by Bruno Miller
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA Post-Apocalyptic Survival seriesDo you have what it takes to survive? Ben Davis was prepared for disaster. He just didn’t know it would come so soon. He and his teenage son, Joel, are miles deep in the backcountry of the San Juan Mountains when high-altitude nuclear electromagnetic detonations light up the pre-dawn sky... -
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We of the Forsaken World... by Kiran Bhat
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn a distant corner of the globe, a man journeys to the birthplace of his mother, a tourist town destroyed by an industrial spill. In a nameless remote tribe, the chief’s second son is born, creating a scramble for succession as their jungles are being destroyed by loggers... -
Torture the Artist by Joey Goebel
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsVincent Spinetti is an archetypal tortured artist ? a sensitive young writer who falls victim to alienation, parental neglect, poverty, depression, alcoholism, illness, nervous breakdowns, and unrequited love... -
Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsThe baker's dozen stories gathered here (including a new, previously unpublished story) turn readers into travelers to the past, the future, and explorers of the weirder points of the present...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies audiobook contemporary -
Light of Dawn by Vannetta Chapman
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBefore Dawn, What Dangers Lurk in the Darkness?For nine months, since a devastating solar flare caused a complete failure of the electrical grid, Shelby Sparks and her diabetic son, Carter, have been living at the ranch of Shelby's high school sweetheart, Max Berkman... -
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsThe times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing as thin as environmental stability. Adam One, the kindly leader of the God's Gardeners--a religion devoted to the melding of science and religion, as well as the preservation of all plant and animal life--has long predicted a natural disaster that will alter Earth as we know it... -
The Divide by Jolina Petersheim
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn this gripping conclusion to The Alliance, nearly six months have passed since Leora Ebersole's Old Order Mennonite community fled to the mountains for refuge after an attack destroyed the power grid and altered life as they knew it. Since then, Leora has watched and waited for news of Moses Hughes, the young Englischer pilot who held off invading looters long enough for everyone to escape... -
Deep Shadows by Vannetta Chapman
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLife in Abney, Texas is predictable and safe--until the night a massive solar flare wipes out all modern technology. As the brilliant northern lights give way to deep shadows, single mom Shelby Sparks, her former sweetheart, and their entire small-town community must find a way to survive... -
Under the Blue by Oana Aristide
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA road trip beneath clear blue skies and a blazing sun: a reclusive artist is forced to abandon his home and follow two young sisters across a post-pandemic Europe in search of a safe place. Is this the end of the world?Meanwhile two computer scientists have been educating their baby in a remote location. Their baby is called Talos, and he is an advanced AI program... -
The China Pandemic by A.R. Shaw
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA pandemic virus has struck from China. Whether accidental or intentional, only two percent of the population has survived including preppers and carriers. In the Pacific Northwest, a dying mother recognizes that her young child is among the immune... -
MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsA man-made plague has swept the earth, but a small group survives, along with the green-eyed Crakers – a gentle species bio-engineered to replace humans. Toby, onetime member of the Gods Gardeners and expert in mushrooms and bees, is still in love with street-smart Zeb, who has an interesting past... -
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Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn the far distant future, the country laid waste by nuclear holocaust, twelve-year-old Riddley Walker tells his story in a language as fractured as the world in which he lives. As Riddley steps outside the confines of his small world, he finds himself caught up in intrigue and a frantic quest for power, desperately trying to make sense of things...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia literary-fiction religion spirituality 20th-century action-adventure adult -
The High House by Jessie Greengrass
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn this powerful, highly anticipated novel from an award-winning author, four people attempt to make a home in the midst of environmental disaster.Perched on a sloping hill, set away from a small town by the sea, the High House has a tide pool and a mill, a vegetable garden, and, most importantly, a barn full of supplies... -
Rubicon Beach by Steve Erickson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA prisoner with a haunted past is released into ravaged Los Angeles, where he pursues an elusive girl to the shores or Rubicon Beach and faces his lost destiny. In his second novel, Steve Erickson creates a decaying world filled with leftover passions and poetic vision that established him as one of the most original and evocative American writers of his generation... -
Noughts & Crosses (Stage Version) by Dominic Cooke, Malorie Blackman
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsAdaptation of much-loved thriller about racism by award-winning children's author Malorie Blackman... -
The Three by Meghan O'Brien
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA daring, provocative exploration of love and sexuality…Two lovers, Elin and Kael, struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where disease, lawless marauders, and fanatics threaten their existence. When the two befriend Anna, another survivor, the fabric of their lives and the family they have made shifts in ways that challenge each woman to redefine the boundaries of love and friendship... -
Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children by Reena Mitra
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSalman Rushdies Midnights Children, ever since its publication in 1980, has been considered an ingenious piece of literary art and a trendsetter in the field of Indian fiction in English... -
The Universe in Miniature in Miniature by Patrick Somerville
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn this genre-busting book from award-winning novelist Patrick Somerville characters, stories, and stray thoughts revolve around the "The Machine of Understanding Other People," the story of a Chicago man who is bequeathed a supernatural helmet that allows him to experience the inner worlds of those around him...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary dark -
Mission, The by Patrick Tilley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEaster Sunday. The naked body of a 35-year old man is rushed into Manhattan General Hospital. He has a two-inch stab wound below his rib cage and nail wounds in his feet and wrists. The impossible has happened: Jesus Christ has appeared 7000 miles and 20 centuries away from the Crucifixion- dead on arrival...Categorized as:
literary-fiction religion spirituality action-adventure adult book christian contemporary -
Portable Curiosities by Julie Koh
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA biting collection of stories from a bold new voice. A young girl sees ghosts from her third eye, located where her belly button should be. A corporate lawyer feels increasingly disconnected from his job in a soulless 1200-storey skyscraper... -
Tma 2.0 by Ondřej Neff
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOndrej Neff originally released the first version of this book in 1998; however, he never stopped developing the story and as a result of his improvements (but also his disillusionment with the conditions in the post-communist Czechoslovakia and Czech Republic) he later released a darker version of the story.Tma 2... -
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Танатонавты by Bernard Werber, Бернар Вербер
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsDeath - the "place from where none return", except for a few pathetic ghosts? Information has become obsolete! The Thanatonauts' invention, a way to travel through the world of Death, has changed everything! The Thanatonauts are already acknowledged as the pioneers of "post-death geographic discoveries". Representatives from different religions are already fighting for spheres of influence... -
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsShana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey...Categorized as:
apocalyptic disaster dystopia epidemy literary-fiction religion spirituality 21st-century -
Every Version of You by Grace Chan
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn late twenty-first century Australia, Tao-Yi and her partner Navin spend most of their time inside a hyper-immersive, hyper-consumerist virtual reality called Gaia. They log on, go to work, socialise, and even eat in this digital utopia. Meanwhile their aging bodies lie suspended in pods inside cramped apartments... -
A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD“Wondering if there’s a novel out there that gives Cormac McCarthy’s The Road a run for its money? Here you go. [A Guardian and a Thief is] an indelible piece of writing, in equal parts dazzling and devastating...Categorized as:
literary-fiction dystopia fiction sci-fi contemporary historical-fiction mystery book -
To the Lake by Yana Vagner
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA deadly flu epidemic sweeps through Moscow, killing hundreds of thousands. Anya and her husband Sergey decide they have no choice but to flee to a lake in the far north of Russia.Joining them on their journey are her son and father-in-law; Sergey's ex-wife and son; and their garish neighbours... -
The Affirmation by Christopher Priest
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPeter Sinclair is tormented by bereavement and failure. In an attempt to conjure some meaning from his life, he embarks on an autobiography, but he finds himself writing the story of another man in another, imagines, world whose insidious attraction draws him even further in.. -
Pixel Juice by Jeff Noon
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratings'In the first shop they bought a packet of dogseed, because Doreen had always wanted to grow her own dog...'Pixel Juice is the collected outpourings of an overactive mind. A selection of fifty stories from Jeff Noon's head, each one strange, telling, disturbing, or sometimes just plain wierd...Categorized as:
dystopia magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary cyberpunk fiction male-author -
A Gift Upon the Shore by M.K. Wren
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn the Pacific Northwest of the near future, the golden age has ended in apocalypse. Nuclear war has unleased firestorms and the killing cold of nuclear winter. Earthquakes and tidal waves have ravaged the West Coast of America. Desperate violent looters comb the devastated land. And a horrifying pandemic lays waste to the remaining human population... -
Wolfe Island by Lucy Treloar
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFor years Kitty Hawke has lived alone on Wolfe Island, witness to the island’s erosion and clinging to the ghosts of her past. Her work as a sculptor and her wolfdog Girl are enough. News of mainland turmoil is as distant as myth until refugees from that world arrive: her granddaughter Cat, and Luis and Alejandra, a brother and sister escaping persecution... -
Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories by Maureen F. McHugh
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn her debut collection, Maureen F. McHugh examines the impacts of social and technological shifts on families. Using deceptively simple prose, she illuminates the relationship between parents and children and the expected and unexpected chasms that open between generations...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary family female-author -
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Neon Green by Margaret Wappler
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIt's the summer of 1994 in suburban Chicago: Forrest Gump is still in theaters, teens are reeling from the recent death of Kurt Cobain, and you can enter a sweepstakes for a spaceship from Jupiter to land in your backyard. Welcome to Margaret Wappler's slightly altered alternative '90s. Everything's pretty much as you remember it, except for the aliens...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism adult alternate-history book contemporary family -
Apocalypse Law by John Grit
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA plague wipes out ninety-five percent of the world's population, taking Nate Williams' wife and daughter and leaving him with his thirteen-year-old son to survive on their farm. In the bedlam of lawlessness and starvation, hungry, desperate men arrive from the nearest town to take their meager supplies. A benevolent stranger keeps coming in the night to steal food... -
No Dominion by Louise Welsh
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt is seven years after the first outbreak of "the Sweats" destroyed the world, almost overnight. Two refugees from the death and decay of London, Stevie Flint and Magnus McFall, have both washed up on Orkney. A rural community clinging to survival, the islands are home to a generation of youth who barely remember a time before the pandemic... -
Ecotopia Emerging by Ernest Callenbach
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFiction. This prequel to ECOTOPIA is a multi-stranded novel that dramatizes the rise and triumph of a powerful American movement to preserve the earth as a safe, habitable environment. Its heroine is a brash and brilliant high school student who invents a better photovoltaic cell. People who also appear in ECOTOPIA first join the story in this epic vision of the birth of a new nation... -
Ark Baby by Liz Jensen
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe author of the critically acclaimed debut novel, "Egg Dancing", pays wonderfully weird evolutionary homage to Darwinism and animal rights, creating a darkly comic story of true love and extinction. With spell-binding skill, Liz Jensen orchestrates another brilliant black comedy, a gala feast of a novel... -
How Best to Avoid Dying by Owen Egerton
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratings[i]Lazarus Dying[/i]: the man Jesus raised from the dead is alive and living in New York City. [i]The Fecalist[/i]: an author whose best selling work is his latest poop. [i]Christmas[/i]: she loves you, you love her, she has a gun in your mouth. Welcome to the award-winning short fiction of Owen Egerton...Categorized as:
drama dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies comedy contemporary
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