Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine: her work, watching movies with her boyfriend, avoiding thoughts of her recently deceased Chinese immigrant parents. So she barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps the world. Candace joins a small group of survivors, led by the power-hungry Bob, on their way to the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers? A send-up and takedown of the rituals, routines and missed opportunities of contemporary life, Severance is a moving family story, a deadpan satire and a heartfelt tribute to the connections that drive us to do more than survive. Ling Ma was born in Sanming, China and grew up in Utah, Nebraska and Kansas. She attended the University of Chicago and received an MFA from Cornell University. Prior to graduate school she worked as a journalist and editor. Her writing has appeared in Granta, Vice, Playboy, Chicago Reader, Ninth Letter and other publications. A chapter of Severance received the 2015 Graywolf SLS Prize. She lives in Chicago. Winner of the 2019 NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award Winner of the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Fiction Winner of the 2019 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award Winner of the 2019 Friends of American Writers First Prize in Literature Finalist for the 2019 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel Shortlisted for the 2019 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award for Debut Speculative Fiction A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 An NPR Best Book of 2018 An Elle Best Book of 2018 A Marie Claire Best Book of 2018 A Buzzfeed Best Book of 2018 A Refinery29 Best Book of 2018 A Jezebel Favorite Book of 2018 A Bustle Best Book of 2018 An Electric Lit Best Novel of 2018 A Lit Hub Best Book of 2018 A BookPage Best Book of 2018 A Bookish Best Book of 2018 A Mental Floss Best Book of 2018 A Chicago Review of BooksBest Book of 2018 A HuffPost Best Fiction Book of 2018 An Electric Literature Best Book of 2018 An A.V. Club Favorite Book of 2018 A Jezebel Favorite Book of 2018 A Vulture Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book of 2018 Longlisted for the Aspen Words Prize A Book of the Month Club Selection for December 2018 Shortlisted for the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Award New York Magazine Approval Matrix, "Highbrow Brilliant" An Indie Next Great Reads Selection A Southern Living Best New Book of Summer 2018 A Millions Most Anticipated Book of 2018 An Alma Favorite Book for Fall A Nylon Best Book of Summer 2018 A Chicago Magazine Summer Reading Pick A Library Journal Summer Fall Best Debut Novel An April Magazine Most Anticipated Book of 2018 A BookBub Laugh-Out-Loud Book of 2018 A Library Journal Debut With Credentials A Refinery29 Best New Book of August 2018 A Greenlight Bookstore Pick in Brooklyn Paper ‘Laced within its dystopian narrative is an encapsulation of a first-generation immigrant’s nostalgia for New York...“Severance” evokes traces of, if not Meghan Daum in her “misspent youth,” then the essay “Goodbye to All That,” when a young and equally bemused Joan Didion looks at gleaming kitchens through brownstone windows, considering New York not as a place of residence but as a romantic notion.’ New York Times ‘It’s a novel that sneaks up on you from all sides: it’s an affecting portrayal of loss, a precise fictional evocation of group dynamics, and a sharp character study of its protagonist, Candace Chen. It also features one of the most hauntingly plausible end-of-the-world scenarios I’ve encountered in recent fiction…[T]his is a monumentally unnerving novel, one that leaves no easy answers or comfortable nooks in which to take refuge.’ Tor ‘A hilariously searing critique of who we are and how we survive in a modern world...Ma’s caustic humor and incredibly smart commentary on late capitalism compares our adherence to routine and groupthink to a terminal infection. Her precise language, original voice, and use of all-too-relatable details inform the debut’s deadpan depiction of a society teetering on the edge.’ Shondaland ‘It’s a stunning book. I devoured Severance in as close to a single sitting as possible...and it shook me on an emotional level that no other apocalyptic novel has reached.’ Chicago Review of Books ‘In the end, Severance isn’t so much a story about zombies as it is an imaginative critique of capitalism. Underneath Ma’s deadpan comedy lie shrewd observations of the West and the decadence of our everyday existence.’ Paris Review ‘In this shrewd postapocalpytic debut, Ma imagines the end times in the world of late capitalism, marked by comforting, debilitating effects of nostalgia on its characters . . . The novel's strength lies in Ma's accomplished handling of the walking dead conceit to reflect on what constitutes the good life. This is a clever and dextrous debut.’ Publishers Weekly ‘Funny, frightening, and touching..