One of The New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century''Best novel. The big one . . . stands above all the others'' – George R.R. Martin, author of Game of ThronesNow an HBO Max original TV series The New York Times BestsellerWinner of the Arthur C. Clarke AwardLonglisted for the Baileys Women''s Prize for Fiction National Book Awards FinalistPEN/Faulkner Award FinalistWhat was lost in the collapse: almost everything, almost everyone, but there is still such beauty.One snowy night in Toronto famous actor Arthur Leander dies on stage whilst performing the role of a lifetime. That same evening a deadly virus touches down in North America. The world will never be the same again.Twenty years later Kirsten, an actress in the Travelling Symphony, performs Shakespeare in the settlements that have grown up since the collapse. But then her newly hopeful world is threatened.If civilization was lost, what would you preserve? And how far would you go to protect it?