Book Synopsis:
Swinging from South Africa to England: one woman’s hunt for her birth mother in an all-too-believable near future in which an antibiotic crisis has decimated the population. A prescient, thrilling debut.
‘STUNNING and terrifying … The Waiting Rooms wrenches your heart in every way possible, but written with such humanity and emotion’ Miranda Dickinson
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Decades of spiralling drug resistance have unleashed a global antibiotic crisis. Ordinary infections are untreatable, and a scratch from a pet can kill. A sacrifice is required to keep the majority safe: no one over seventy is allowed new antibiotics. The elderly are sent to hospitals nicknamed ‘The Waiting Rooms’ … hospitals where no one ever gets well.
Twenty years after the crisis takes hold, Kate begins a search for her birth mother, armed only with her name and her age. As Kate unearths disturbing facts about her mother’s past, she puts her family in danger and risks losing everything. Because Kate is not the only secret that her mother is hiding. Someone else is looking for her, too.
Sweeping from an all-too-real modern Britain to a pre-crisis South Africa, The Waiting Rooms is epic in scope, richly populated with unforgettable characters, and a tense, haunting vision of a future that is only a few mutations away.
The Waiting Room is available in ebook now and paperback on the 9th July 2020. You can you or pre-order your copy using the link below.
My Review:
The Waiting Rooms is a dark, compelling and emotional read. If I had read it a few months ago I’d have been describing it as dystopian fiction but with the recent Corona pandemic I found it to be a frightening realistic read.
The story revolves around a global antibiotics crisis where antibiotics don’t work anymore on simple infections. In order to try and help the general population people over 70 are denied medical care and just left to die. This storyline sent a chill down my spine as at the height of the Corona crisis this was something being considered in Europe. It made the story seem much more real to me and more hard hitting as it seemed a real possibility at one point.
The characters were all very interesting creations who all helped show a different side of the crisis which was really fascinating. I enjoyed following all of their stories and found it interesting to see how they developed. I found myself getting pulled in each direction as the story went on as I felt deeply sorry for each of them at one point.
Overall I found this a surprisingly emotional, thought provoking book which has made me realise how, despite all of our technology and inventions, vulnerable the human race is. Given the current situation in the world this book might not be for anyone who has found dealing with the Corona crisis hard as it is scarily similar. So much so that I found myself wondering if the author had had access to a crystal ball into the future. The ending, although very sad was a great way to end the book. This is definitely a book I’ll be thinking of for ages.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orenda for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Eve Smith writes speculative fiction, mainly about the things that scare her.In this world of questionable facts, stats and news, she believes storytelling is more important than ever to engage people in real life issues. Set 20 years after an antibiotic crisis, her debut novel The Waiting Rooms was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize First Novel Award. Her flash fiction has been shortlisted for the Bath Flash Fiction Award and highly commended for The Brighton Prize. Eve’s previous job as COO of an environmental charity took her to research projects across Asia, Africa and the Americas, and she has an ongoing passion for wild creatures, wild science and far-flung places.
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