Camille is a keeper at the last zoo in the world, on Alcatraz Island. Reserved around humans, she is happy to spend her days caring for chimpanzees and tree frogs, and a magnificent, restless jaguar, while outside nature crumbles. Resistance groups and brutal cartels are fighting to shape the world’s future, but Camille is safe within her routines.
Then a new zookeeper, Sailor, arrives. Glamorous and reckless, she seems to see something in Camille that no one has before. When Sailor whispers about a secret sanctuary where wild animals roam free, Camille begins to imagine a new kind of life, with Sailor by her side.
Sailor has a plan, and she wants Camille to be a part of it. Which means Camille must decide if she’s ready to risk everything for the promise of a better world.
Propulsive and fiercely hopeful, with a heart-stopping final twist, The Island of Last Things is an elegy for a disappearing world, and a gorgeous vision for the future.
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andThe Island of Last Things
‘Sensitively written cli-fi – an elegy for the natural world that also bristles with urgent, life-affirming spirit.’
‘Sometimes a new author will sidle up and whisper in your ear, and sometimes she’ll grab you by the neck. Emma Sloley is in the latter camp.’
‘Absorbing, daring, and ultimately hopeful, The Island of Last Things is at once a love letter to the natural world and a warning of what could become of us all if we let it whither.’
‘Emma Sloley is a terrific new talent and I am her fan.’
‘Emma Sloley writes with urgency, emotional clarity, and a keen eye for detail.’
‘Electric…A moving and elegiac cautionary tale about the state of the world, and the beauty that we so often take for granted. An all-too-plausible look at what the future might hold for the natural world and the people who strive to protect it.’
‘A sharply-plotted character-driven thriller’
‘A stark yet strangely tender portrait of survival, longing, and moral reckoning… Sloley’s writing is elegant and spare, often poetic, and quietly immersive… The Island of Last Things is a provocative, moving read that lingers long after the final page… its emotional depth and moral complexity make it a standout entry in the slow dystopia genre.’
