Book Read Songs For The End Of The World - Saleema Nawaz,

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Songs For The End of The World by Saleema Nawaz 

                    -Pradeep Gupta 

The novel is about hope and the human condition, and it’s the farthest thing from films like Contagion or other such disaster/pandemic fare. Set on the East Coast of the United States, it centred around a handful of mostly academics, their lovers, and parents, who reside in New York City and small-town Lawrence, MA. Each chapter bears the name and year of a different character at a different moment in their lives, from somewhere in 1999 to the near future of November 2020.

The novel opens in August 2020 with Elliot, an underachieving New York City first responder, who is forced into self-isolation. At another moment, the idea of being sequestered to your own apartment for three weeks might seem shocking. But having lived through a nationwide quarantine order removed that shock and normalized whatever frustration might have been intended. He is a man running from past failures and struggling to do the right thing. Emma is a pregnant singer preparing to headline a benefit concert for victims of a growing outbreak—all while questioning what kind of world her child is coming into. Owen is the author of a bestselling novel with eerie similarities to the real-life crisis, and as fact and fiction begin to blur, he must decide whether his lifelong instinct for self-preservation has been worth the cost. 

     As we discover these characters' ties to one another—and to the mystery of the so-called ARAMIS Girl—what emerges is an extraordinary web of connection and community that reveals none of us is ever truly alone. 

     Brilliantly told by an unforgettable chorus of voices, this glittering novel is a moving and hopeful meditation on what we owe to ourselves and to each other. It reminds us that disaster can bring out the best in people—and that coming together may be what saves us in the end.

Author Saleema was born and raised in Ottawa to Indian father and Caucasien mother. She currently lives in Montreal. She currently mentors writers at the Writers Studio at Simon Fraser University, edits fiction at The Fiddlehead literary journal, and writes a regular column for the Montreal Gazette