Severance

“A satirical spin on the end times - kind of like The Office meets The Leftovers."  -  Estelle Tang, Elle

Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine: her work, watching movies with her boyfriend and avoiding thoughts of her recently deceased Chinese immigrant parents. So she barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps the world.

Candace joins a small group of survivors, led by the power-hungry Bob, on their way to the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers?

"Ling Ma's shocking and ferocious novel, Severance, is a play on the 'Why I left New York' theme, but it's one you'll actually want to read... a fierce debut from a writer with seemingly boundless imagination... while Severance works beautifully as a horror novel, there's much more to it than that... [it] is the kind of satire that induces winces rather than laughs, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining."  -  Michael Schaub, NPR

A send-up and takedown of the rituals, routines and missed opportunities of contemporary life, Severance is a moving family story, a deadpan satire and a heartfelt tribute to the connections that drive us to do more than survive.