Sophie is at work on Friday morning, when the power goes out. As she waits for it to be restored, she notices that her fully charged cell phone won’t turn on. A horrifying thought crosses her mind, and she runs to look out the window. The street is full of cars that are all stalled, and people milling around looking at their non-working cell phones. She realizes that this is much worse than a simple power outage, and that she must act quickly if she wants to survive.

During the coldest winter on record, an EMP attack wipes out the nation's power and cripples the country. As the city spirals into lawless chaos, an investigative journalist, twenty-six-year-old Cassandra Drews, is forced onto the dangerous streets of Portland to begin the long walk to her parents' home in Oregon. But hypothermia and starvation aren't the only dangers Cass and her rescue dog, Daisy, face on their perilous trek.

Cassie Blake lives a simple life on a ranch with her family. Although she hates having to go to the city, when a dear friend makes plans to come visit, Cassie makes the drive to the airport to pick her up. While waiting at the airport, an event occurs that will change her life forever.

In 2035, in a hopelessly broken world, Nick Ritter is The Posh Prepper, a gifted crisis consultant who sells disaster-survival plans to rich and powerful clients. Haunted by corrupt clients and a tragic past, Nick lives a reclusive life in overcrowded Boston, counting the days until he can retire to his survival ranch in New Zealand. But when he gets an insider tip that a deadly virus is tearing through Boston, Nick has 24 hours to escape the city and flee to New Zealand. He has the perfect survival plan, but there’s just one problem…it doesn’t account for company.

At the end of the world. Nick Peterson never expected to be stuck with a bunch of kids. A 17-year-old boy shouldn’t be responsible for keeping other people alive. But he didn’t have much choice in the matter. That’s what happens when everyone else dies.

Deep into the coldest, Midwest winter on record, an electromagnetic pulse has taken out the nation’s power grid, plunging St. Louis into frigid darkness. Can ordinary people survive the apocalypse? Pre-med student Raine Caldwell is about to find out. The government isn’t coming to rescue her. If Raine and her group are going to make it, they must save themselves. After finding themselves in a community terrorized by ruthless and dangerous people, Raine and the others in her group must pull together to find justice, when one of their own is taken.

Before the sun rose over the town of Sisterville, everything went black. A natural disaster of unknown origins takes the lives of every living creature and decimates the small town. Disgraced NASA scientist and now Cleveland weatherman Hero Galanis knows he is more than a local celebrity on television. He recognizes the anomaly on the satellite image as a repeat of the event that cost him his career. Decades earlier, Hero made predictions about the devastation the anomaly would cause, but those predictions pale in comparison to the reality the world currently faces.

What if the perfect life you envy was rotten to the core? Three brand-new friends. Three very different families. Way too many secrets. Gisela, Sally and Kate become close when they move into the same new housing estate. But behind their shiny front doors, each has something to hide. Three lives collide in this gripping story about friendship, motherhood and marriage and the façade of perfection people present to the world.

Julian Jessop, an eccentric, lonely artist and septuagenarian believes that most people aren’t really honest with each other. But what if they were? And so he writes—in a plain, green journal—the truth about his own life and leaves it in his local café. It’s run by the incredibly tidy and efficient Monica, who furtively adds her own entry and leaves the book in the wine bar across the street. Before long, the others who find the green notebook add the truths about their own deepest selves - and soon find each other In Real Life at Monica’s Café.

In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Birdpaints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship, and fulfillment. But it's a lie. In reality, Hubert's days are all the same, dragging on without him seeing a single soul. Until he receives some good news - good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on.

England, 1943: Home is no longer safe for eight-year-old twins Molly and Jacob. Night after night, wailing bombs and screeching planes skim the rooftops overhead. They cradle each other, shivering in terror, not knowing if they'll live to see dawn. Their mother, Martha, has no choice but to evacuate them to the safety of the countryside. At the train station, Martha bites back tears as she says good-bye to her precious children. Knowing she might never see them again, she gives Jacob a letter, pressing the envelope into his hands and telling him to only read it if they are in danger.

Getting a life isn't always easy. And hanging on to it is even harder.... Jodi Taylor brings all her comic writing skills to this heartwarming tale of self-discovery. Known as The Nothing Girl because of her severe stutter and chronically low self-confidence, Jenny Dove is only just prevented from ending it all by the sudden appearance of Thomas, a mystical golden horse only she can see. Under his guidance Jenny unexpectedly acquires a husband - the charming and chaotic Russell Checkland.

Isabel Delancey, a classical violinist, has always taken her comfortable life for granted. But when her husband dies suddenly, leaving her with a mountain of debt, she and her two children are forced to abandon their home and move to the Spanish House, a now-dilapidated manor Isabel inherited in the English countryside. With the house falling down around them, and the last of her savings disappearing fast, Isabel turns to her neighbors for help, not knowing that her mere presence there has stirred up long-standing obsessions.

Life is full of second chances, if only you keep your heart open for them. Spring Hill Square is a pretty sanctuary away from the bustle of everyday life. And at its centre is Leni Merryman's Teashop on the Corner, specialising in cake, bookish stationery and compassion. And for three people, all in need of a little TLC, it is somewhere to find a friend to lean on.

The world has changed around 79-year-old librarian Millicent Carmichael, a.k.a. Missy. Though quick to admit that she often found her roles as a housewife and mother less than satisfying, Missy once led a bustling life driven by two children, an accomplished and celebrated husband, and a Classics degree from Cambridge. Now, her husband is gone, her daughter is estranged after a shattering argument, and her son has moved to his wife's native Australia, taking Missy's beloved only grandchild half-a-world away.