The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

A dystopian pandemic novel with a bit of a twist.

The Book of M is primarily the story of Max and Ory: a couple living in an abandoned hotel following the strangest outbreak you’re ever likely to read about: a few years earlier, people across the world began losing their shadows.

Yup, you heard right.

Folk were going about their business, then looking down and discovering that their shadows had disappeared. The world’s fascination with this phenomenon soon turned to horror when people realised that shadows were somehow tied to memory: once your shadow vanished, your memories began to fade, along with your ability to make new ones.

Oh, but it gets worse: the people without shadows became wandering zombies with terrifying reality-bending powers.

To escape from the global chaos, Ory and Max hide away in the mountains, surviving on trapped animals and the dwindling supplies in the hotel stores. But inevitably, the pandemic reaches them: Max’s shadow vanishes, and before she develops the magical powers that could harm her husband, she leaves their mountain home while Ory is out hunting.

And when a heartbroken Ory returns to find her gone, he gathers a few supplies and sets out to find her …

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