When The Floods Came - Clare Morrall

Isn't a well-written book with a good story and a "proper" ending a joy to read?  I devoured this one, and loved reading every single chapter.  But stop reading here if you cannot do dystopia, for this is a clever take on that subject, a really good "what if".  Around the internet I can see that this is a marmite book - mostly because this is not a heavy duty dystopia, it's not like McCarthy's The Road, King's The Stand and many others.  But for me, that was the whole point.... a quiet novel set in a boring place, with ordinary people who are getting by just fine.  Until......

Roza lives in a flat in a tower block just outside Birmingham - a part of the UK which is heavily flooded for the winter months.  It is now a very long time since a virus whiped out a majority of the population, and the Government now operates from Brighton.  Some things have remained the same - the internet still works (sort of), some things are very different (no cars, no money).  Roza's family of Mother, Father and four siblings have managed very well - not least because the tower block is empty except for them, and so scope for  scavenging from all the other flats is huge. Roza works on line for a Chinese company; Roza's Mum (Moth) teaches over the internet, and generally they get by and with no other example to go by, seem to have a decent (if a little boring) life. Roza's on-line fiance is on his way by bike from Brighton to Birmingham, sending progress reports on a daily basis.  And then after all this time, a stranger turns up at the flats.  A young charismatic man who tells them all sorts of things....... Can he be trusted?