Postscript

A queer teen navigates illness, love, and grief in this postapocalyptic romance by McCarthy (Man o’ War). Six years after a toxic miasma wipes out most of humankind, 18-year-old West, who’s sick with intestinal worms, sails along the Massachusetts coastline aboard a yacht with his alcohol-dependent adult companion Captain, the vessel’s helmsman. When the pair encounter enigmatic 22-year-old Emil and his dog at sea, Captain trades West to Emil for a gun; Emil then promises to procure medicine for West and to deliver him to other survivors. As they sail, the duo forges an unexpected bond, finding comfort and commonality in their perceived roles as drifters who “carry all the years of those who don’t survive.” Waiting at a coastal mansion while Emil goes on a supply run, West meets two strangers, begrudgingly coexisting despite their opposing ideologies and personal losses that have embittered them to the world. Luminous third-person perspectives alternate between West, Emil, and various supporting characters, resulting in a poetic apocalypse narrative that explores grief, found family, and healing through community. West’s openness and humor alongside the white-cued protagonists’ earnest and charged romantic chemistry offer a sharp contrast to the bleak setting. Nautical linocuts precede each chapter. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Sara Crowe Literary. (Feb.)