On 13th April, at exactly the same time, everyone over the age of seventeen fell asleep and did not wake again.
In every corner of the world, adults fell unwakeably asleep in the middle of whatever they were doing. Resulting in pile-ups on the roads, planes falling from the sky, fires. In Shawton it was the middle of the night, and most adults simply slept on in their beds. But, come morning, when all the kids woke up, it was to a town without adults.
The Shawton kids have to deal with this new reality. Sixteen-year-old Dwayne Garland must look after his sleeping mom, and his special-needs kid sister. Rhianna thinks it is a judgment of God. Other kids look after their parents, or don't: kick-off, party, go wild. As time goes on, kids who turn seventeen slip into the Swoon in the midst of their birthday celebrations.
But how long will the adults stay asleep? What is behind the Swoon? As the weeks turn to months, Dwayne tries to find answers. But with no solution on the horizon, his seventeenth birthday is getting ever closer ...
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Adam Roberts is often described as one of the UK's most important writers of science fiction. He has been nominated three times for the Arthur C. Clarke Award: in 2001 for his debut novel Salt, in 2007 for Gradisil, and in 2010 for Yellow Blue Tibia. He has won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, as well as the 2012 BSFA Award for Best Novel. Roberts reviews science fiction for The Guardian and is a contributor to the SF ENCYCLOPEDIA. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His science fiction has been praised by many critics both inside and outside the genre, with some comparing him to genre authors such as Pel Torro, John E. Muller, and Karl Zeigfreid.
