The Last Bookstore on Earth

Brought to you by Penguin.

A heartbreaking and high-stakes story of queer love and survival set against the backdrop of a climate change apocalypse, this book is Station Eleven and The Last of Us meets All That’s Left in the World by Erik J. Brown.

The world is about to end. Again.

It’s been a year since a devastating storm ripped Liz’s world apart. Haunted by the memories of those she couldn’t save, Liz holes up in the only place she felt safe before her world fell away: the bookstore where she used to work. Now she spends her days trading books for supplies and collecting stories from the remaining survivors who pass by.

Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming . . . and everything changes.

Enter Maeve, a spiky out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. When Maeve’s secrets and Liz’s inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives and asking themselves one big question.

As the end of the world approaches, is there time for one final love story?

‘A thoroughly original, intimate and sometimes harrowing meditation on survival, forgiveness and learning how to love again at the almost end of the world’ #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicola Yoon

‘Hopeful, thrilling, and twisty, The Last Bookstore on Earth is the snarky sapphic dystopian of our dreams’ Jennifer Dugan, author of Some Girls Do

‘A hauntingly beautiful story of love, loss and the raw fight for survival’ Jarrod Shusterman New York Times Bestselling author of Dry

'A vivid homage to books, music, and their power to unify and comfort' Publishers Weekly

'This stellar debut is filled with cynical and witty characters exploring the nature of and need for human connection. Contains just the right amount of action, a blossoming queer romance, and a well-executed slow doomsday reveal' Kirkus

© Lily Braun-Arnold 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025