Not With a Bang
A family drama at the end of the world, for fans of Station Eleven and The Last of Us
Will be published approx. on 21. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
432 pages
978-1-3985-3326-4 (ISBN)
Description
'Our father had imagined the end of the world so often that, for a while, he believed that he summoned it...'
The Minton family is in crisis. After losing his job, father Marcus begins stockpiling cans, running evacuation drills and digging a doomsday bunker in the back garden. At the same time, the Minton daughters are unravelling in their own ways - Chantale is being haunted by dreams of disaster, and Briar's obsession with a missing classmate draws her deeper into the seductive world of a UFO cult. Meanwhile, no one is aware of the devastating diagnosis their mother has been desperately trying to keep hidden.
Then, on the morning of the eldest daughter's wedding, an extinction-level event tears the world apart, and the Mintons must fight their way through a devastated city - back to safety, survival, and each other.
A family drama perfect for fans of Station Eleven and The Leftovers.
PRAISE FOR TEMI OH:
'Spectacular... Science fiction at its best' SAARA EL-ARIFI, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Final Strife
'Fascinating' GUARDIAN
'Moving, powerful, and deeply human' LOCUS MAGAZINE
'A major new voice. Read Temi Oh today. Everybody will be reading her tomorrow' STEPHEN BAXTER, author of World Engines
The Minton family is in crisis. After losing his job, father Marcus begins stockpiling cans, running evacuation drills and digging a doomsday bunker in the back garden. At the same time, the Minton daughters are unravelling in their own ways - Chantale is being haunted by dreams of disaster, and Briar's obsession with a missing classmate draws her deeper into the seductive world of a UFO cult. Meanwhile, no one is aware of the devastating diagnosis their mother has been desperately trying to keep hidden.
Then, on the morning of the eldest daughter's wedding, an extinction-level event tears the world apart, and the Mintons must fight their way through a devastated city - back to safety, survival, and each other.
A family drama perfect for fans of Station Eleven and The Leftovers.
PRAISE FOR TEMI OH:
'Spectacular... Science fiction at its best' SAARA EL-ARIFI, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Final Strife
'Fascinating' GUARDIAN
'Moving, powerful, and deeply human' LOCUS MAGAZINE
'A major new voice. Read Temi Oh today. Everybody will be reading her tomorrow' STEPHEN BAXTER, author of World Engines
Reviews / Votes
'The very human story of the end of the world, and what happens after. A compelling and haunting read'ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY
'Part apocalyptic thriller and part family drama, Not with a Bang is a deeply compelling tale set at the end of the world as we know it. Oh explores complex relationships with wit and enormous empathy. Every time I thought I knew a character inside and out, yet another layer was revealed; few books will keep you on your toes the way this one does. Thought-provoking, ambitious, and full of love - despite the horrors'
KEMI ASHING-GIWA, author of The Splinter in the Sky
'A cinematic, thrilling take on the apocalypse and a deeply moving portrait of a family losing and finding each other. Temi Oh writes my favourite kind of science fiction: grounded in the human, reaching for the stars'
CATRIONA SILVEY, author of Meet Me in Another Life
'The best end of the world novel I've read, and I've read a lot of them'
PETER F. HAMILTON, author of Pandora's Star
'Be warned: once you start reading this, it will take over your life until you've reached the final page. Temi Oh ratchets up the tension in this brilliant apocalyptic novel with exquisite, horrifying realism. A fantastic combination of family dynamics, flawed yet sympathetic characters and cult mentality make this story of an extraordinary disaster utterly compelling'
EMMA NEWMAN, author of Planetfall
'Not With A Bang is the third book from Temi Oh, who is fast building an estimable reputation in SF circles. Here, she delivers a book that feels like one of John Wyndham's cosy catastrophes given a contemporary twist for a culturally very different Britain, with a bit of US post-apocalyptic TV series vibe (The Leftovers, Station Eleven) thrown in'
SFX MAGAZINE
'I found myself sucked into this addictive family drama in which the characters feel like real, breathing human beings with their own idiosyncrasies and fatal flaws... The promise of the world's end is fulfilled in brutal, shocking fashion'
HANA LEE, author of Road to Ruin
'Told in a confident, lyrical voice with a sharp focus on characters and society, this narrative reveals that no matter how alien the circumstances, we will always be human. An out-of-this-world tale grounded in day-to-day realities'
KIRKUS (STARRED REVIEW)
More details
Edition
ANZ Only
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 153 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-3985-3326-4 (9781398533264)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Temi Oh wrote her first novel, Do You Dream of Terra-Two?, while studying for a BSci in Neuroscience. It won the American Library Association's Alex Award in 2020 and was an NPR Books We Love pick in 2019. She has written stories for Marvel's Black Panther, Dr Who and Overwatch. Her second novel, More Perfect, was published by Simon and Schuster in May 2023. Her first short film, Murmur, was funded by Sky Arts and the BFI. Since then, she has written on the Netflix TV series Castlevania: Nocturne and the CBBC series Silverpoint.