@What Sarah Read Next
& Kate Sawyer
The Stranding is a story about the hope that can remain even when the world is changed beyond recognition.
We are thrilled to have two power houses under one roof. Join award winning debut novelist Kate Sawyer and @WhatSarahReadNext and as they dig into Kate's debut novel The Stranding. An open conversation followed by a Q&A and an opportunity to buy a signed copy of the book.
The night will be held in our signature Afri-Co-Lab style, relaxed, drinks, snacks and meaningful chats. Both Sarah and Kate are champions and supporters of Afri-Co-Lab so it is our absolute pleasure to hold this space. Tickets are £5 and if you buy a book on the night your ticket price will be redeemed against the cost of the book.
The Stranding
Ruth lives in the heart of the city. Working, drinking, falling in love: the rhythm of her vivid and complicated life is set against a background hum of darkening news reports from which she deliberately turns away.
When a new romance becomes claustrophobic, Ruth chooses to leave behind the failing relationship, but also her beloved friends and family, and travels to the other side of the world in pursuit of her dream life working with whales in New Zealand.
But when Ruth arrives, the news cycle she has been ignoring for so long is now the new reality. Far from home and with no real hope of survival, she finds herself climbing into the mouth of a beached whale alongside a stranger. When she emerges, it is to a landscape that bears no relation to the world they knew before.
When all has been razed to the ground, what does it mean to build a life?
'An immersive end of the world story full of hope and imagination'
THE GUARDIAN
'A terrific debut. Brave, unexpected... transfixing and captivating... full of hope, resilience and love' THE SUNDAY TIMES
katesawyer
Kate Sawyer worked as an actor and producer before turning her hand to fiction. She has previously written for theatre and short-film. Having lived in South London for the best part of two decades she recently returned to East Anglia to have her first child as a solo mother by choice.