A Suitable Companion for the End of Your Life

By Rita Chang-Eppig and Robert Mcgill

Book Overview

2022 QUILL & QUIRE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 30TH ANNUAL HAMILTON LITERARY FICTION AWARD

A bold and absurd new take on the dystopian plague novel, where people are treated like IKEA furniture

Distraught and hopeless, an eighteen-year-old distance runner, Regan, decides to end her life. And she'll do it through an unusual new method available only on the dark web. Enter lle, a woman with amnesia, who will, inadvertently, make Regan's wish come true.

But lle begins to remember her past and the outrageous steps her government took to combat a deadly pandemic of parasitic infections, which have brought her to this new country and to Regan's house. Meanwhile, Regan might be changing her mind, and she finds herself more and more concerned about keeping both lle and herself alive. But the shadowy organization that brought them together wants to keep them both quiet - permanently.

A Suitable Companion for the End of Your Life is a darkly comic dystopian tale that probes our anxieties around boundaries, whether territorial or bodily, and our fraught desire not to die alone.

"Gripping from the first page, Robert McGill's A Suitable Companion for the End of Your Life is a dark, speculative novel with echoes of The Handmaid's Tale, set against the backdrop of a plague. Some of us would do anything to survive, down to flatpacking ourselves like IKEA furniture, while others would do anything to make our miserable lives end. This is timely, provocative, ethically challenging fiction that asks whether the drive to survive is stronger than the inevitability of death." -Ian Williams, author of Reproduction

"Terrifying and tender, A Suitable Companion's sci-fi angle serves to frame a fascinating parable about the post-post-modern family. Unpredictable and completely original, this is a propulsive, rewarding, and thought-provoking read." -Michael Redhill, author of Bellevue Square

​​"The guy knows what he's doing, from missing children to silk parachutes, you are never lost and he will catch you." - Zadie Smith, author of Swing Time

"A storyteller who refuses to keep things straight, and for this produces freshly captivating effects." - Andrew Pyper, author of The Demonologist

"A writer of striking talent and originality." - Daily Mail on The Mysteries

"McGill is a talented writer, adept at expressing the nuanced, unspoken truths that beg the lies by which we live." - Observer on The Mysteries

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1552454444
• ISBN13: 9781552454442
• Release Date: June 2022
• Publisher: Coach House Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Easy way to suicide

4 stars, Easy way to suicide A SUITABLE COMPANION FOR THE END OF YOUR LIFE by Robert Mcgill What if there was an easy way to suicide? All you had to do was place an order and a few days later, your life ended. Reagan is a long-distance runner, who has suffered an injury and is no longer able to run. She believes that is all she has to live for. She doesn't have anyone that really cares about her, so she decides to take the easy way out. She never expected to care about anyone new. This is an interesting take on a #dystopian future. Definitely readable, I'll probably re-read it in the future. I received a complimentary copy of #asuitablecompanionfortheendofyourlife by #robertmcgill from #coachhousebooks I was not obligated to post a review. #darklycomic #strongfemaleprotagonist #triggerwarning