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The Last Town on Earth

Author: Thomas Mullen
Publisher: Fourth Estate
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

2 reviews
Sales Rank: 325380

Media: Paperback
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.3

ISBN: 0007234996
EAN: 9780007234998
ASIN: 0007234996

Publication Date: September 4, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW - FAST Dispatch from UK Based Seller within 48 hours. edges slightly shop worn from shelf storage

Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - The Last Town on Earth
•	Paperback - The Last Town on Earth
•	Hardcover - The Last Town on Earth

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars

Book club choice January 31, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Set in 1918, this book uses the flu epidemic raging across the world killing over 50M people, to look at what would happen if a group of people decided to cut themselves off from the world to try to escape infection.

The people of Commonwealth, a small mill town Washington State, vote to put themselves under quarantine in order to keep out the virus. Guards are posted on lookout duty to ensure that no-one leaves or enters. On day two, the guards are confronted with a moral dilemma. A soldier appears, begging for help. He is hungry, cold and tired. Should they admit him and put their families at risk or should they place their lives above his and let him die in the woods? The choices they make and their impact on the town as panic and conflict take hold is the central theme of the book.

The book will generate lots of discussion at a book club. Discussion will focus on the dilemma as well as the great characters which form the substance of this book. The town doctor is a beautifully drawn character; he is an elderly man who had just a few weeks' training in the days when disease was thought to be caused by miasmas and the cure was bleeding or cupping. He tries to keep up with the new science but with few resources and little knowledge he is confronted with the possibility of having to deal with a major outbreak of a killer disease. The other characters are just as intriguing: the boy with the wooden foot, the suffragette, the mill owner, the store keeper - all damaged people who have come to Commonwealth to rebuild lives and suddenly face their biggest challenge.

The first part of the book gives the back story of the characters and there will be too much of this for some; perhaps the author could have got into the meat of story sooner. However, once it gets going the story is compelling and you have to know how it it going to finish.

In our bookclub, praise for the ending was high: well thought out, it is neither neat nor predicable.

The book generated discussion on medical science and why the 1918 flu virus affected young and health adults and had less impact on the very young and elderly, [elderly might well have built up immunity during previous milder epidemics] and just today there is a news story on BBC website [health] about new gene research using tissue recovered from a body buried in the Alaskan permafrost in 1918. We also talked about what we would choose to do in our village - would we quarantine ourselves, could we, should we do it?

5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding! July 6, 2006
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

I was lucky enough to be sent a proof copy of this book and I am very happy to be able to recommend it as an outstanding read. It's set in WW1 and is about a small town that puts itself under quarantine in order to keep out a plague virus that is sweeping the world and killing large amounts of people. Guards are posted on lookout duty to ensure that no-one leaves or enters the town - until one day a soldier appears, begging for help. He is hungry, cold and tired. He begs for help - what would you do? We learn about the course of action that the young guard takes, the outcome it has on his family, and the chain of events that causes fear, distrust and ugly rumours to almost destroy the community. This is a true page turner which sweeps the reader along with the mounting panic as fear sets into the town. Gripping stuff...I loved every page.