This Fragile Earth cover art

This Fragile Earth

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

This Fragile Earth

By: Susannah Wise
Narrated by: Susannah Wise
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

What would you do to protect your family if the world stopped working?

Not long from now, in a recognisable yet changed London, Signy and Matthew lead a dull, difficult life. They've only really stayed together for the sake of their six-year-old son, Jed. But they're surviving, just about. Until the day the technology that runs their world stops working. Unable to use their phones, pay for anything, even open the smart door to their flat, Matthew assumes that this is just a momentary glitch in the computers that now run the world.

But then the electricity and gas are cut off. Even the water stops running. And the pollination drones—vital to the world, ever since the bees all died—are behaving oddly. People are going missing. Soldiers are on the streets. London is no longer safe.

A shocking incident sends Signy and Jed on the run, desperate to flee London and escape to the small village where Signy grew up. Determined to protect her son, Signy will do almost anything to survive as the world falls apart around them. But she has no idea what is waiting for them outside the city....

©2021 Susannah Wise (P)2021 Orion Publishing Group Adventure Dystopian Fiction Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Survival

Critic Reviews

"I absolutely devoured this book. It has everything I love - great characters, intrigue, action, heart, drama and hope. Cannot recommend it enough." (Aisling Bea)

"Poignant and perfect." (Christina Dalcher, author of Vox)

"[An] amazing futuristic novel.... Do yourself a favour and a pick up a copy now. It's fantastic." (Paul Bettany)
All stars
Most relevant  
I liked this book - it was a bit slow for my travelling company so we speed it up a bit and that was a little better, I had liked the slow pace….. I found most characters a bit annoying and didn’t mind much if they lived or died….. is that deliberate I’m not sure. Not sure if it was worth the time though - it is a slow quiet mysterious journey of apocalypse?

Errrr

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great to listen to a book read by the author. She was able to add depth and insight to the characters she had created. Great story that is relatable and scary . It reveals the full shock slowly and by then has you totally invested.

A very relatable story of the future.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Characters never quite clicked for me. The child in particular.
Good concept for a story, not particularly good overall.

Meandering

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not sure why, in a pandemic, that I've been drawn to the "end of the world" genre more than ever - maybe I'm looking for a reality worse than our current existence! This Fragile Earth delivers the fear, uncertainty and foreboding that comes with a societal breakdown novel. Set around a decade in the future, we learn about the technological advances and environmental changes that humans have been forced to endure, along with some cool gadgetry for the Futurists to ponder. The author captures Sig's urgency to protect her loved ones, while dropping subtle hints all the way through about what's happening to the earth. An enjoyable read with a message that is a call to arms for the residents of Earth.

A call to arms for the residents of Earth

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This story has the makings of greatness, but lets itself down with inconsistencies in the characters. An example of this is the protaganist's soon Ged, who is sometimes a very little boy, but at other times displays knowledge and an ability to explain things, far beyond his years. I'm not sure whether the many unanswered questions in the story are part of the main character's psyche, or an omission on the authors part.

Potentially good, but inconsistent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.