More Than This

 'Haven't you ever felt like there has to be more? Like there's more out there somewhere, just beyond your grasp, and if you could only get to it?'

A teenage boy named Seth drowns in the ocean. But just when he believes his life is over, he awakes – naked, bruised, thirsty, in a strange, deserted town. The place is familiar, and Seth soon recognises it as the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before the terrible event that led his family to relocate to America. But now the neighbourhood he once knew is completely abandoned and covered with dust.

Alone and afraid, Seth tries to make sense of his situation. Each time he closes his eyes, he is tormented by agonising memories of his former life – his relationships with his family and friends, and the events that led to his death. Could this be hell? Seth heads out across the apocalyptic landscape in search of answers, but what he finds is more unexpected than anything he could have imagined. 

Carnegie Medal-winning author Patrick Ness tackles weighty questions of life and death head on in this provocative and challenging young adult novel. Combining elements of a sci-fi thriller with the abstract and philosophical, this is a bold and unusual story, beautifully written and shot through with a poignant sense of melancholy. Compelling, powerful and often painful, it may be Ness's darkest novel to date: yet even its most bleak moments are carefully balanced with notes of humour and hopefulness.