January 2011 Guest Editor Jenny Downham on a classic of apocalyptic science fiction:
"Written as a documentary novel, Z for Zachariah explores the nightmare situation faced by two people who believe they are the last humans left on earth. This was the first novel I read as a teenager that utterly transported me. I had never realised books could do that. It literally took me away from home and put me somewhere else. Absolutely haunting and impossible to put down!"
Nuclear war has devastated America, except for the valley where Ann Burden has been living alone for over a year - until Loomis, a scientist in a radiation-proof suit, arrives. She hopes they will be companions but his behaviour towards her becomes increasingly threatening as he attacks her and then cuts off her food supply and tries to bring her under his control. Although there may be no one else alive, Ann steals his suit and leaves the valley in search of humanity.
Robert C O'Brien was the pseudonym of Robert Leslie Conly. Born in New York City in 1922 he began to write freelance stories, poems and essays soon after leaving high school. He was married with four children and was an editor of the National Geographic Magazine in Washington DC until his death in 1973.
