What a beautiful haunting story of this post-apocalyptic world.

Nina lived there alone, but for the magpies, who were particularly annoying when the moon was full, carolling outside the window. There was also a fat blue-tongue lizard in the rocks outside the library. Neither brought solace.

The details are wonderful and the prose paints a beautiful yet desolate world where the presence of others brings comfort but also danger. I get the impression that the protagonist cherishes her solitude, but at the same time yearns for meaningful contact, while remaining a tad suspicious of anyone who approaches her side of the beach.

The virus hadn't killed everyone. That was almost worse. It had simply left enough, so that Nina could hear generators humming in distant valleys or glimpse smoke on some mornings and miss people at the same time she feared them.

Beautiful tale on a lonesome shore.