last one at the party book review

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Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift – Review

By Ceri Saunders

The year is 2023. Just three years after Covid-19 stopped the world as we knew it in its tracks, a much more deadly virus, 6DM (standing for Six Days Maximum – the longest you’ve got before your insides destroy themselves and you’re dead), has swept the globe.

We follow the story of an unnamed female diarist who, as her friends, family and co-workers succumb to this unstoppable disease, finds she has very little reason to be on this planet. Her husband is dead. Her parents are dead. Her lover is dead. Mobile phones are useless. There is no World Wide Web. Communications beyond basic human interaction come to a grinding halt. Suicide pills are freely dispensed at chemists across the country to put people out of their inevitable suffering.

Bethany Clift’s debut focuses solely on the story of one woman who has spent her entire life living through the gaze of others. And now she is completely alone.

But this isn’t your The Walking Dead – or The Last Of Us -type zombie thriller – this is a tale about what it truly means to be a human being.

“Left me grateful for the little things”

The diarist flits back to moments of her previous life – however seemingly fleeting, mundane or everyday, giving us the opportunity to know her perhaps better than she’s ever known herself. From mental health to relationships and coffee dates to makeovers, these life experiences have shaped who she is – or isn’t.

She is brutally honest in her lack of real-life skills. She can’t cook, hates to drive and doesn’t know the first thing about growing vegetables. When her friend suggests that she needs to get clued up and invest in a gun over a routine coffee catch-up, the suggestion is laughed off. But it turns out she was right.

After the initial excitement of having London at her disposal – including all the booze and designer handbags she would have ever wished for from Harrods – the main character eventually decides that if she is going to survive, she needs to start from scratch.

Reading this in a midst of a pandemic and at the beginning of yet another lockdown perhaps has its advantages – the plot and main character becomes more believable and, perhaps, even the prospect of civilisation coming to an abrupt end doesn’t seem all that far away from possible.

Fast-paced, tragic, wholesome and laugh-out-loud funny, Clift’s debut has left me grateful for the little things, excited for what else she has to offer – and making plans for my apocalypse bunker.

‘Last One At The Party’ by Bethany Clift is published by Hodder & Stoughton, £12.99 hardback Also available as an eBook and audiobook

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Last One At The Party By Bethany Clift: A Review

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Book review: Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift

As a species, we love our all-conquering heroes.

Perhaps because we feel insufficiently equipped to deal with life in its mundanity but most especially in its more extraordinary moments, we cling as tightly as we can to people who know all, can do all and rather happily for a world where actions are often flawed and incomplete, overcome all.

It all makes sense, particularly in apocalyptic tales where the ordinary won’t cut it and the extraordinary is usually what’s required, but as Bethany Clift explores in her affectingly original tale of one woman alone at the end of the world, Last One at the Party , the unsettling reality is that everything might end, likely when we’re least prepared for it (which is, be honest, all the time) and all we will have is ourselves.

Broken, sad, happy, uncertain, selfish, excitable, hopeful, depressive us with no one to come riding to our rescue.

What would do then and how would we cope? Would we rise to the occasion, summon hidden reserves within ourselves and kick the apocalypse’s death-laden butt, or would like, as the unnamed protagonist, fumble and flail and stumble our way to some accommodation with the freakishly unnerving fact that we seem to be the last person alive as history’s reaches a pandemic-initiated end?

“Films and TV shows about the end of the world always show people taking to the street en masse; rioting, looting, fleeing, rallying against the fall of mankind — much like what had happened in America. That is not what happened here. There had been no mass exodus from London, no nose-to-tail traffic jam blocking the streets, no gridlocked car park on the M25. Nobody tried to flee — where would they have gone? They had tried that in America. It hadn’t worked. 6DM was everywhere, you couldn’t escape it.” (P. 27)

Be honest – we would likely react as the female protagonist does, a London-based woman who has been unsuccessful and successful, depending on her point in life, in work and love, who moves between feeling loved-up and fulfilled, and despairingly lost and self-fraudulent, and make a real hash of things at the beginning.

And in the middle, and quits possibly near to the end too, because, to be fair, who the hell could ever be ready or equipped for everyone dying around them, and very quickly too, from a virus known as 6DM or Six Days Maximum, which sweeps around the world so quickly in late 2023 that no one can react fast enough. not even with all the freshly-learnt COVID-19 lessons still very much at the front of government and public consciousness.

Yes, the protagonist, along with the rest of the UK, watched in horror as the virus stormed across the globe killing everyone it touched, and had time to understand what it was they were facing, but even with that foresight, there was simply no way to prepare for society’s rapid collapse.

Or, miraculously, in the case of the protagonist that you might, against all odds, survive the damn thing — who saw that coming?

What is so brilliantly refreshing about Last One at the Party , which defies narrative expectations at every original turn (even the ending is a gloriously clever piece of immensely satisfying storytelling), is that Clift is blatantly and winningly honest about what might happen to someone in that position from the get-go.

It feels like at all times that we’re reading about a real person making less than ideal decisions and struggling to deal with the sudden loss of her husband, parents, best friend and everyone one she knows, and that is oddly liberating.

That’s not to say that we don’t want to feel like we could triumph over apocalyptic adversity because doesn’t want to feel like they are winning at life, especially when there is no more life, but we all suspect that if we, like the protagonist, felt out of place and existentially stricken in the course of everyday life, that we’re hardly going to magically transform overnight when all the things that that imperfect life somewhat bearable is suddenly ripped out from under us.

So the protagonist in Last One at the Party is a blessed relief, someone with whom we can identify and who, in her fumbling messiness, helps us to make sense of a vividly-changed world in a way that seems like it could happen.

Weight of having to be apocalyptic overcomer taken off us – PHEW.

What makes Last One at the Party so special too is that the protagonist, who parties – she has everything at her fingertips, that childhood dream of having endless indulgence and the freedom to make the most of it come to life (or death, as the case may be) – despairs, rallies, doesn’t rally and whose only companion is a rescued Golden Retriever called Lucky, three chickens and a cockerel naked Simon, actually doesn’t find her inner Indiana Jones as the story goes on.

But even then when she finds her inner overcomer, her life is magically better because while she is safe and can eat and care for herself, with all the detritus of civilisation at her disposal, the grim reality is that she is alone in a scary new world, she is still her fallible broken self and she is very much, heartbreakingly, alone.

“I wanted to tell him I was afraid I may never get out of bed again and that this was it. No trip to Soho Farmhouse, no glamourous death in Egyptian cotton sheets. I would just slowly fade away in a heap of nothing until I was a pile of dust like the ones that had gathered in Susan Palmers’ house. I wanted to tell him to leave while he still could, that I couldn’t be there for him any more, that I couldn’t be there for anyone. I was done. But I knew he wouldn’t understand. One of the drawbacks of having a dog for my best, and only, friend.” (P. 223)

This might sound grimly despairing but it doesn’t, not for a moment.

By being so honest with us, Clift gives us a story and a protagonist that feels authentic and true, whose journey from hapless office worker caught unprepared at the end of the world to someone who manages to keep herself and her found family of birds and animals alive, feel wonderfully, beautifully freeing.

At turns funny and self-deprecatory, tearily grief-stricken and self-recriminatory, triumphant and hopelessly lost, Last One at the Party is that apocalyptic novel you have been craving, a story that feels unburdeningly real and uplifting and something with which you can wholly identify.

In fact, you come to love the protagonist warts and all because she isn’t horrible or awful or nasty; she’s just fallibly human, like all of us, and trying her best to navigate what feels, much of the time, to be completely unnavigable.

Last One at the Party is so groundedly emotionally resonant that while you recoil in horror at the idea of being that alone, and wonder how you would cope in the same situation – pray it never comes to pass because 6DM makes COVID-19 look like walk through the park – you are assured that for all your failures and frailties and lack of resources and skills, that you might find a way through the morass of loss, grief and crushing isolation, and might become someone altogether different, a person who would rather be anywhere but marooned at the end of history but manages to find a way, against all odds and expectations, to keep the story going in ways powerful and yet altogether understandably human.

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Book Review: Last One At The Party by Bethany Clift

The thought of reading about a devastating global pandemic, during an actual global pandemic, isn’t immediately appealing. When so many of us read to escape reality, surely we wouldn’t want to subject ourselves to a book that takes everything we’ve spent over a year agonising over and spins it into a story that’s somehow even more terrifying. Right? In the case of Bethany Clift’s Last One At The Party , that’s exactly what I wanted to do. Because this isn’t a story of the end of the world, this is the story of what happens next.

It’s November 2023 when the human race succumbs to a virus called 6DM, which stands for Six Days Maximum – the longest you’ve got before your body essentially melts from the inside out (nice, I know). At first it seems as if the UK – being an island nation with the capacity to isolate itself – might be able to withstand the virus. Unfortunately it doesn’t, and soon the country, as well as the whole world as we know it, is decimated. Yet in London, one woman is still alive, and it turns out her will to live is stronger than she thought it was.

As the sole survivor of the apocalypse, our unnamed protagonist has to learn how to exist in a world without human contact, with only a trusty golden retriever as a companion. Moving between the past and the present, we get glimpses into how the woman has spent her life compromising; moulding herself to be what she thinks other people want her to be, pretending to be happy when she’s falling apart inside, and drifting through life feeling miserable, anxious and lost. It’s only when she’s faced with the end of the world that she’s able to look back at the important things she let go and the broken things she clung on to, in order to understand who she really is and what she really wants.

You might wonder why all this matters, when it’s too late for her to change anything. She can’t quit the job she hates and pursue the career she always dreamt of. She can’t make amends with the best friend she alienated. She can’t tell the people she cares about most that she loves them one last time. It’s all so hopeless and yet this is a story that’s about finding hope. When everything narrows down to the basic need to survive and stay sane, all the inconsequential things slip away, allowing the woman to exist as she wants to exist. Nothing is holding her back any more. Of course, nothing is holding her together either, and her struggle is as much a psychological one as it is physical.

The tone of the book veers between amusing and sad, irreverent and macabre, as it explores what it means to be alive. Our protagonist isn’t a heroine in the traditional sense, and she isn’t always an easy character to identify with or like. Yet from beginning to end, you can commiserate with her. She’s lost everything. She’s alone. She could live out the rest of her days like that. It would be so easy to give up. Yet she doesn’t. She keeps going. And going. And going. It’s an admirable quality, though one she herself would call selfish or cowardly. In actuality, to keep moving forward when all you want to do is curl up in a ball and pretend none of this is happening is the biggest act of strength there is.

Last One At The Party is at times horribly bleak and brutal. Our present situation – and the fact that the story references it – makes it all feel very real and scarily possible. It’s not going to be the kind of book that everyone can read – or indeed want to read – at this current moment in time, but there’s so much that resonates beyond the overarching pandemic theme. Clift has written a story that feels uniquely personal to its female protagonist. For all her lows, there are genuine highs, and for all her fears, there are wonders to counterbalance the desolation of her situation. And special mention has to go to Lucky, the loyal golden retriever, who’s the true hero of this story. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that animals can be our saviours. We all need a Lucky in our lives.

Last One At The Party was published by Hodder & Stoughton on 4 February 2021

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Last One At the Party by Bethany Clift

Bethany Clift

Last one at the party: a city silhouette is encompassed by hot pink flames that become a road further up the cover

A review by Nalini Haynes

A woman is the last person alive. The Last One At the Party. She goes on a drug-and-alcohol binge for a month then, after the electricity grid fails, she wanders down to the BBC broadcasting station to broadcast a call for help. Because everyone will be watching the TV with no electricity. After that, she frees a handful of animals, keeps one, and leaves the rest. Desperately seeking someone, she drives around Britain.

Humour is personal

I started reading Last One At the Party not really knowing what to expect but, by page 4, it sounded suspiciously like an apocalyptic comedy. The line “The American government acted swiftly and decisively to stop the crisis. No one wanted to make any of the mistakes that happened in 2020” elicited an audible laugh. That was the only time I laughed. If we were post-pandemic then Last One At The Party might appeal to me more.

I watched the first episode or two of the Last Man On Earth but it didn’t appeal to me at all. Others found it hilarious. A supportive audience enabled 4 seasons (2015 to 2018, noticeably concluded BEFORE Covid19). So I figure the striking similarities between the two stories place this book in the “not for me” pile.

In contrast, I love Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Black Books , Kathy Lette, Ruby Wax and other similar styles of humour.

However, I canNOT enjoy people trashing stuff just because they can. I’d always be thinking of the future, of possibly needing it later. Or, in the event of the end of the world, even the possibility of an alien race visiting Earth for an archeological dig would stay my hand.

Last One At The Party is part of a long-established genre

Last One At The Party is Empty World (1977) written for an older (adult instead of adolescent) audience 40 years later. Where it’s original is where it fails. But then I’m the person who is so caught up in BUT THAT’S NOT HOW THE ELECTRICITY GRID WORKS that I can’t see any jokes.

I admit that reading Empty World as a 10-year-old freaked me out so much I’ve never forgotten the basic plot, including the suicide and the end. During Covid19 was not the best time to read a reboot of that story. Not far in, I seriously considered dropping it and moving on. I wish I had. However, with the new Feline Overlords offering moral support and light entertainment, I pressed ahead.

Well before Empty World , pandemic fiction was an established genre in books and on television. Zeitgeist fears of governments’ research escaping laboratories to wipe out humanity date back to at least the middle of the Cold War. Add to that Children of Men ’s alternative take on the end of humanity and you’ve pretty much nailed the plot.

Flawed World-building

I am prepared to bet actual money that the author’s research consisted of watching old movies and not actually researching things like WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE POWER GRID IS NOT STAFFED. AND FAILS.

There are SO MANY world-building and plot point problems with this novel that I’m not going to try to list them. Let’s just say that NO ONE INTENTIONALLY EATS FISH BONES. And does the author not see the problem with a fridge running on ONE HOUR OF ELECTRICITY A DAY? And [REDACTED BECAUSE CLIMAX/DENOUMENT SPOILER] IS NOT HOW THAT MEDICAL SITUATION WORKS.

Character inconsistencies

How does a woman manage to learn to sail, know how to jury-rig a net to catch fish but doesn’t know anything about cooking said fish? She learnt to drive a couple of years ago (because plot), but can barely drive, does not have a car, but suddenly has a history of enjoying driving long distances?

And how does said woman grow up camping in tents with her parents but not be able to light a fire, be clueless about safety, not know how to make damper or something similar…

Not know that LONG LIFE MILK is a thing…

I would have accepted weevils in the flour (after an appropriate period) but a starving woman who’s too picky to eat stale crisps?! FYI if you’re hungry enough, you’ll cook said weevil-ridden flour or other foodstuff and thank Dog for the extra protein.

Pat the dog. Pat. The. Fucking. Dog.

When I studied writing, I learnt about the “pat the dog” moment. It’s a moment about 20 minutes in to the movie where the central character will stop and pat a dog or do something equally sympathetic to show the audience “this character is nice, you can like this person” even if they have difficulties with other people.

Not this character.

Seriously, she could have rescued animals LOADS of times or at least released them from their homes. But no. She walks away again and again, leaving dogs howling in distress, the zoo in uproar… then indulges in a pity party because “it’s all too hard”. THIS WAS HORRENDOUS. In my opinion this was probably the most stressful, gut-churning aspect of the novel.

When she finally does rescue a few, she only extends herself to about half a dozen then stops because “it’s too hard”. Poor dear. Perhaps if she freed them in the first few weeks after the pandemic wiped everyone out instead of walking past distressed animals and going inside to take drugs to block out the sound.

Pet owners knew they were going to die all left their animals locked inside their homes. Some thought to leave all the pet food out and bowls of water but no one left a door or window open. Sigh.

Then – get this – she finally keeps one of the dogs. She picks a dog that should have died due to its previous privations and her “tender ministrations”. Instead, the dog saves her life again and again. Because plot. And, presumably, to engender sympathy for the woman.

Last One At The Party begins with the woman being the last person alive then flashes back to various periods of the woman’s life to build a picture of her childhood, her character, her codependency, her marriage, her mental health etc.

These flashbacks kept me reading in the hope of some kind of hero’s journey where the woman grows the fuck up. To be fair, she becomes more self-sufficient towards the end but it’s one of those “telling” bits after all the “showing” of the incompetence.

And then. The End.

Early on, when I was debating whether to continue reading, I flipped to the end to see how many pages. I saw a change in font, a heading, and guessed at a particular outcome. That outcome was one of the reasons I kept going.

I was wrong.

Representation of disability

Apart from the fact that a pandemic rages, we read as the woman loses her husband then Everybody’s Dead Dave. Last One At The Party has representation of mental health and addiction issues in a few characters.

It could be argued that the central character presents nuanced representation, learns and grows. However, the other person with mental health issues was 100% awful. And when we learn the backstory, it becomes more awful. I think it was supposed to be funny but I felt like crying. And raging because FUCK THAT REPRESENTATION OF DISABILITY.

Representation of addiction issues and the gay character were much better but he’s dead at the beginning of the story, only showing up in flashbacks. Pretty sure that’s a trope.

Everyone knew there’d be a wave of pandemic fiction after the advent of Covid19. It is inevitable. Last One At The Party is the first actual pandemic fiction I’ve read so far, although Kathy Lette’s Husband Replacement Therapy mentioned the pandemic briefly at the end.

In this novel, the pandemic is NOT Covid19, it’s 6DM (six days maximum, named for life expectancy after symptoms appear). It’s the pandemic AFTER the current pandemic. Which, in many ways, makes this WORSE. Especially as it’s set in 2023. Scientists warned us that a pandemic was coming. Now they’re warning us that more pandemics will ensue because of climate change and environmental vandalism etc. So, setting this novel in 2023 and 2024 with another, worse, pandemic causes my adrenaline response to skyrocket, my heart to race, my hands to shake.

Covid aint over ’till the world sings

I suspect Marketing thought that Covid would be or is about to be “over” because vaccinations have begun in some countries. (Not in Australia, which was wiped out very quickly in this novel.) Marketing hasn’t taken into account that Covid19 variants are taking off with increased virulence and higher death tolls. I think those timing this release assumed that “we’ll be able to laugh about this when it’s over”. But it isn’t over. Not by a long shot.

And the Australian government is so determined to fuck over the country that they’re telling us we’ll have to learn to live with Covid19 long-term. Which is consistent with their stance that no Asylum Seeker would be vaccinated, a position they only recently announced would be reversed. (And if you believe half the Australian government’s announcements, I have a lovely bridge to sell you situated in a world-renown harbor… I can throw in a gorgeous opera house to sweeten the deal…)

So Covid19 isn’t over as a pandemic. Not by half. Thus, reading Last One At The Party is emotionally taxing. It is NOT escapist reading. Not by a long shot.

The Verdict

Last One At The Party is Empty World written for adults with tropes ripped from Children of Men (end of humanity, suicide pills), Clueless (the central character who drove me NUTS), The Birds (seagulls that are suddenly as big as dogs and very very hungry) and every pandemic movie ever. The author appears to consciously be writing a Last Man On Earth novel but with a woman lead.

Read it if you love pandemic and apocalyptic fiction.

Read Last One At The Party if you enjoy light “fashion” fiction crossed with horror.

Don’t read if you’ve been having vivid dreams like a lot of people were reporting around Easter 2020. Do NOT read it if Covid19 has given you nightmares or detrimentally impacted your mental health.

For science-based fiction, I highly recommend Octavia Cade’s fiction and her recommendations. If you want fun fiction that includes a pandemic, read Hollowpox by Jessica Townsend . Sure, it’s kids’ fiction but I really enjoyed it (even if representation of disability needs improvement.)

Book details

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars ISBN: 9781529332131 Imprint: Hodder & Stoughton (Hachette) Format: paperback, 355 pages including the acknowledgements Category: apocalypse, pandemic, speculative fiction

Last One at the Party – Bethany Clift

The debut novel from Bethany Clift, Last One at the Party takes a classic sci-fi trope – the sole survivor at the end of the world – and strips it back to its core, delivering a powerful, emotional story of a regular woman in a recognisable world gone wrong. In a very near future, even the lessons learned from the Coronavirus pandemic are no use when a new, horrifyingly virulent virus ravages first America and then the rest of the world. There’s no hope for a cure, yet in London one woman – the nameless protagonist here – finds herself still alive in the ruins of her life, with everyone she ever knew now dead and gone. At first she loses herself in drink, drugs, raids on Harrods and the lingering luxuries still on offer in the city, but it’s not long before loneliness compels her to seek out other survivors or, failing that, some remaining reason to keep going.

Told in first person with a straight-talking, witty and brutally honest voice, right from the beginning it feels as though the protagonist (there’s never any reason for her to use her own name) is telling her story directly to you the reader. What starts off pacy, bleak and worryingly relevant gradually develops into a thoughtful, often heartbreaking depiction of a character who’s never been able to be truly honest with herself or truly happy, who’s utterly unsuited to solo survival and yet somehow manages to become something better despite the appalling situation she’s faced with. Her matter of fact, horrifying-yet-fascinating depiction of the ‘present’ is interspersed with reflections on her life leading up to the pandemic, the two cleverly intertwining so that as she explores the lonely, painful life she’s forced to try and cope with, she also reveals more of who she was before, and why she responds to her new life the way she does.

Despite the dystopian premise, this is (if it’s not too much of a contradiction) a grounded, relatable post-apocalypse story. It’s a tale which maintains a broad appeal by keeping its focus on an everyday character and her experiences, helped by the fact that we’re all already used to a degree of bizarre, isolated life right now. There’s no attempt made to explain the hows or whys of the pandemic, or show anything beyond the perspective of this one character, and this proves absolutely the right decision. With no need to worry about the bigger picture, Clift is free to really drill down to the details of post-apocalyptic life, whether that’s the guilt of raiding abandoned shops for supplies, the dread of what might be waiting in hospitals, inside parked cars and behind closed doors – and the disgust of finding out – or the surprising dangers that surface in a world (almost) without humans.

For all the horrors though, there’s humour too – frequently black humour, in that very English way of coping with trauma by making light of it – and even a little hope, of sorts. All told it’s powerful and full of heart, transcending any restrictions of genre and using the lens of the apocalypse to tell a relatable tale of a regular person, a contemporary story of mental health struggles and the stressful demands of an ordinary life. The nature of the book and the events it portrays mean that it’s hard to handle in places, published as it is in the midst of our very own pandemic, and some of the tougher moments (some unexpectedly so) may prove too much, just that bit too close to home. Pandemic tolerance notwithstanding though, this is the sort of book that leaves you feeling hollowed out yet simultaneously lifted up, and that will live in the reader’s memory long after it’s finished.

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Bethany Clift for providing me with an advance copy of Last One at the Party in exchange for my honest review!

If you’re in the UK and would like to support local independent bookshops, you can buy Last One at the Party from my store on Bookshop.org *

Alternatively, buy Last One at the Party from Amazon – also available as an audiobook *

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Last One at the Party

December 2023. The human race has fought a deadly virus and lost. The only things left from the world before are burning cities and rotting corpses.

But in London, one woman is still alive.

Although she may be completely unprepared for her new existence, as someone who has spent her life trying to fit in, being alone is surprisingly liberating.

Determined to discover if she really is the last survivor on earth, she sets off on an extraordinary adventure, with only an abandoned golden retriever named Lucky for company.

Maybe she'll find a better life or maybe she'll die along the way. But whatever happens, the end of everything will be her new beginning.

Bethany Clift is a graduate of the Northern Film School, the producer of low-budget British horror film Heretic, and the Director of her own production company, Saber Productions. Last One At The Party is her debut novel.

'A fresh, frank, funny and surprisingly uplifting book about the end of the world' ― Elizabeth Kay, author of Seven Lies
' A riotous, black-humoured tonic' Independent
'I inhaled it in two sittings' ― Stylist
'If you want something super original and mad and at times, both moving and VERY FUNNY, this is it' ― Cesca Major
'Funny and profanity-laden , you could call this "Bridget Jones Does the Apocalypse"' ― Financial Times

Literally devoured the 'Last One At The Party' by @Beth_Clift . Absolutely loved it 😍😍😍 #BookTwitter #booktwt #BooksWorthReading pic.twitter.com/KRl2tUkflG — Dawn (Reads A Lot) Robinson (@InkDrinkerDawn) September 20, 2021

Tonight's show will be interesting! "A fresh, frank, funny and surprisingly uplifting book about the end of the world" Join us LIVE as we chat to debut #author @Beth_Clift about her new #book THE LAST ONE AT THE PARTY! Set the #YouTube reminder here https://t.co/kQXcyjxiAV pic.twitter.com/2Egf2szaud — 📚The Writing Community Chat Show / The WCCS (@writing_show) June 9, 2021

It's December 2023 and the world as we know it has ended... A copy of Bethany Clift's, Last One at the Party, has been hidden outside the City Chambers in Dunfermline for a lucky finder today. Will it be you? #IBelieveInBookFairies #Dunfermline #Fife #BethanyClift pic.twitter.com/9FYYIp8m5d — Book Fairies Fife (@bookfairiesfife) January 17, 2022

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Last One at the Party

By bethany clift.

It's December 2023 and the world as we know it has ended.

The human race has been wiped out by a virus called 6DM ('Six Days Maximum' - the longest you've got before your body destroys itself).

But somehow, in London, one woman is still alive. A woman who has spent her whole life compromising what she wants, hiding how she feels and desperately trying to fit in. A woman who is entirely unprepared to face a future on her own.

Now, with only an abandoned golden retriever for company, she must travel through burning cities, avoiding rotting corpses and ravenous rats on a final journey to discover if she really is the last surviving person on earth.

And with no one else to live for, who will she become now that she's completely alone?

Last One at the Party is about an ordinary woman alone in the world after the virus decimates the rest of the population. The virus 6DM (or 6 days maximum) starts in a small town in America and quickly spreads to other areas of the world. Our protagonist isn’t adept at surviving and decides if she is the last person left alive, she might as well have some fun.

Last One at the Party is one of the best end of the world books I have read. It is witty, unique and humorous. It has a gravity about it at times but without being too bleak.

I loved that the protagonist was flawed and not at all suited to surviving on her own. Prior to the virus she has suffered with long-term anxiety and depression and one of the best things about the book is that it helps shine a spotlight on both of these things.

It is important to state here that this is not a book about a pandemic but a book with a pandemic in it. The author makes it clear from her author’s note that this is the case. It is about a life not death.

Last One at the Party is set in 2024 in the UK. The UK government and its people watch in horror as the virus known as 6DM spreads across the globe. However, they have learnt their lesson from the events of 2020 and as they have fewer ‘friends’ post Brexit they close borders and blow up the Channel Tunnel. It isn’t enough to stop the spread though.

“And they needn’t have bothered with the military or police. No one wanted to leave the safety of their home. People stayed in, hugged loved ones close, and watched horrific images on the tv whilst thanking God for our tiny little Island.

Just a quick warning here for those who are squeamish this book has some rather graphic descriptions of rotting bodies and various other unpleasant things so it may not be the book for you.

“We may not have known much about the virus, but what we did know was terrifying. No one knew what the incubation period was, but it started with a head cold, then fever, vomiting, diarrhoea. Within 72 hours your vital organs started to disintegrate. Not degrade or even fail: DISINTEGRATE.”

After a short time of their being no cases in Britain things return to a semi normality but the protagonist is out for lunch with her friend Ginny and is discussing survival plans when Ginny points out quite how unsuited she is for survival. This was a big moment of connection for me in the book because the below passage could have been written with me in mind.

“Did I have any idea how unsuitable I was for how life would become? Could I grow my own food? Make my own bread? Did I own chickens? Could I milk a cow? Did I know how to make my own clothes? Did I have any transferrable skills? Obviously, the answer to all these was no.”

In the end though these plans are not needed for most people because somehow or other the virus gets into the country.

The protagonist is at work when she finds out and she and the other childless people decided to go out and get really drunk. She ends up with a free day hangover whilst her husband engages in some polite looting to try and get them some essentials. In doing so he ends up with the virus.

“James sneezed at 4.36 a.m. on December 3rd and I knew he was going to die.”

James having the virus and her reaction is the first clue to our protagonist being a little bit selfish. While her husband is dying, she goes for medicine for him but then ends up getting drunk in a bar so she can face his death.

In the end though she is there for him in his final moments.

“And, in the end, I was with him forever. It was just his for-ever, not mine. The next twenty-four hours were the worst.”

After his death she sets out to find out if her parents and friends are alive and, in the process, we learn more about her life before the virus. This may have made the rest of the novel pretty depressing if it wasn’t for the protagonist having an important revelation along the way.

“It was hopeless. I was hopeless. And then I stopped. It wasn’t just hopeless, it was also ridiculous. If I was the last one alive in a land of plenty, why was I sitting in the cold, eating stale bread? I should at least have been sitting in the cold, eating stale bread whilst drunk on the finest champagne in the land.”

What follows is a series of hedonistic choices from our main character involving drink, drugs and breaking into Harrod’s food hall.

Somewhere along the way though she learns how to survive not just alone but with herself. She also encounters some wolves and some incredibly scary rats. The rat scene in particularly made me feel sick with anxiety for her.

Last One at the Party is poignant, timely and already a favourite book of the year.

“Everything had stopped. And it would never start again. Ever.”

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Currently 5/5

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THE END OF EVERYTHING WAS HER BEGINNINGIt's November 2023. The human race has been wiped out by the 6DM virus (Six Days Maximum - the longest you've got before your body destroys itself). The end of the world as we know it.Yet someone is still ali...

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Science Fiction & Fantasy
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Last One at the Party Paperback – July 5 2022

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'A riotous, black-humoured tonic' Independent 'A masterpiece of modern fiction' Sophie Cousens December 2023. The human race has fought a deadly virus and lost. The only things left from the world before are burning cities and rotting corpses. But in London, one woman is still alive. Although she may be completely unprepared for her new existence, as someone who has spent her life trying to fit in, being alone is surprisingly liberating. Determined to discover if she really is the last survivor on earth, she sets off on an extraordinary adventure, with only an abandoned golden retriever named Lucky for company. Maybe she'll find a better life or maybe she'll die along the way. But whatever happens, the end of everything will be her new beginning. 'Fresh, frank, funny' Elizabeth Kay 'Brilliant. Creepy, witty, laugh-out-loud and shudder-inducing' Harriet Walker 'Harrowing, unflinching and uplifting' Jennifer Saint 'Original, brutal, funny and hugely addictive!' Emma Cooper

Print length 368 pages
Language English
Publisher Hodder
Publication date July 5 2022
Dimensions 12.8 x 2.6 x 20 cm
ISBN-10 1529332168
ISBN-13 978-1529332162
See all details

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Product description

About the author, product details.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder (July 5 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1529332168
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1529332162
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 260 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.8 x 2.6 x 20 cm
#2,800 in Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction (Books)
#16,060 in Women's Fiction (Books)

About the author

Bethany clift.

Bethany suffers from itchy feet. She travelled extensively when she was younger and once drove round America for a year, camping and living in her car because she couldn’t afford motels. Her itchy feet mean that, since leaving her childhood home, she has moved house a lot. She once moved house four times in a year. Bethany has now settled in Milton Keynes with her husband and two children and, luckily, she is a big fan of roundabouts.

Bethany has enjoyed many different careers including hairdresser, florist, karaoke bar singer, pork pie maker, barman, jeweller, fruit and veg seller, librarian and a season as an Elf. Bethany has spent the last eleven years working for the NHS and is a huge advocate for the organisation and the world-renowned service it provides.

Bethany is the producer of the low-budget horror movie, Heretic. Bethany produced the entire movie for less than £18k and secured it a UK cinema and DVD release earning the movie the number 3 spot in the DVD charts on the weekend of its release. Bethany was also the Production Manager for the 16-day film shoot for the movie and she did this six-weeks after giving birth to her first child and whilst still breast-feeding and surviving on about three hours sleep a night. She credits watching the Great British Bake Off as the reason for keeping her sanity, and her marriage, during those sixteen days.

Bethany loves reading and watching sci-fi; listening to American country and blues music; dancing to Northern Soul or old-school Hip-Hop and eating, well, pretty much anything. The movie WALL-E makes her cry, and her family and friends make her happy.

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Last One at the Party: An intriguing post-apocalyptic survivor's tale full of dark humour and wit

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Last One at the Party: An intriguing post-apocalyptic survivor's tale full of dark humour and wit Hardcover – 4 Feb. 2021

Fleabag meets i am legend in this extraordinary novel of one woman's survival in the face of the end of the world . . ..

Print length 368 pages
Language English
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date 4 Feb. 2021
Dimensions 16 x 3.6 x 24 cm
ISBN-10 1529332125
ISBN-13 978-1529332124
See all details

From the Publisher

Last One At The Party, Bethany Clift, dystopian fiction, adult fiction, women's fiction, debut 2021

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Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder & Stoughton; 1st edition (4 Feb. 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1529332125
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1529332124
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16 x 3.6 x 24 cm
1,575 in Cat, Dog & Animal Humour
4,617 in Dystopian
4,862 in Post-Apocalyptic

About the author

Bethany clift.

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Customers find the characters relatable and the author's imagination on fire. They also describe the details as memorable, striking, and honest. Readers find the emotional tone very emotional, horrifying, and funny in equal measure. They describe the writing style as fascinating, funny, and good. Customers also mention the plot as relatable, human, flawed, and resilient. They find the book brilliant and gripping.

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Customers find the writing style fascinating, funny, suspenseful, and captivating from the start. They also say the book is a rattling good read.

"...It’s a memorable , striking and honest novel, in which the author ensures the reader is taken on a journey that is both troubling and uplifting, and..." Read more

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"...It’s a memorable, striking and honest novel , in which the author ensures the reader is taken on a journey that is both troubling and uplifting, and..." Read more

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"...humour amid even the darkest of days, this was an absolutely exquisite debut novel from Bethany , overflowing with honesty and emotion, and making me..." Read more

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Tuesday 2 February 2021

Book review: last one at the party by bethany clift.

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Last one at the party- Bethany Clift

Rae36 · 24/04/2023 17:53

Anyone read this? I really enjoyed it. Basically the main character is one of the few survivors of a deal pandemic and it follows how she copes in the immediate aftermath and later. Its hard to talk about it much without giving the story away but... I found parts of it really sad, made me think quite a lot about covid times. But the ending weirdly really stuck with me. It's hard sometimes to end these sorts of novels well but I found this a very satisfying ending. It rounded things off in a believable way and gave me the chills thinking about it. I'd love to hear what others thought.

Read for a book club a few months ago Really enjoyed it although i did get a slight dread thinking what if this really happened! I liked how she went back and forth to give more of an insight into her life and who she was before this all happened

I loved it! Still think about it quite often. It was very cleverly written (for example, you never find out her name) and I thought the ending was good too.

I started this but just couldn't finish it. Too gory and gruesome for me, and too close to reality...

Loved this book - I read it last year I think (or the year before?) and persuaded a couple of others to read it too. Lucky ❤️

This is one of the best books I read last year. The character just felt so real and relatable despite the post apocalyptic setting. There were a couple of parts that made me ugly cry, not because of what was happening but because how sad and unloved she had felt before.

I really enjoyed it but the postscript didn’t make sense to me. Also, I found the character confusing. She was a major people pleaser but also really really selfish.

I read this recently and I really enjoyed it but felt like the ending was very lacking. Like the author didnt know how to finish it so just stopped writing. Still one of the better things I've read recently though

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I’ve just finished it and loved it, haven’t read anything this engaging for ages. I need to talk about the ending and what people think happened!

I loved it. I also really enjoyed her second book- it’s about AI.

I have just finished this and came here to see if there was a thread about it. I really enjoyed it but was so disappointed by the ending. I felt like it finished in a really unsatisfactory way.

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LA indie music blog,reviews,free concert tickets,mp3s

Show Review & Photos: The Last Dinner Party hosts a ravishing final night of their tour at the Fonda Theatre Hollywood

Joined by King Isis it was a night of fervent, unabashed emotion and unapologetically grand anthems about love, heartache, and ecstasy.

The Last Dinner Party at the Fonda Theatre by Steven Ward

The Last Dinner Party ended their tour at the Fonda Theatre in a characteristically spectacular fashion, leaving fans ravished and aglow in the wake of their rapturous baroque anthems. With just one album to their name, the crowd was essentially given a cover-to-cover performance of Prelude to Ecstasy , including the live debut of three unreleased songs: “Second Best,” “Big Dog,” and “The Killer.”

Tickets for Local Natives and Mt. Joy at the Hollywood Bowl

Unleashing overtures of ferocious desire, tragic love, and breathless pathos—part of the bliss of experiencing The Last Dinner Party live is finding yourself blown away by the sonic fury of their songs. With smoldering riffs, roiling bass lines, and melodies that shake and shiver with unbridled passion—there was no escaping their combustive performance at the Fonda.

At the center of this tumultuous storm was Abigail Morris , her voice a lightning rod for The Last Dinner Party’s climactic emotion, appearing as a graceful flurry of melodramatic gesticulations as she danced from bandmate to bandmate. Add this to the infinite reasons this band kills it live: every single one of them shares the spotlight, whether on vocals or via electrifying instrumentals.

Take, for instance, “Sinner,” a song that captures the grandiose array of talent required to conjure the thunderous melody into existence. Emily Roberts tearing into a thrilling riff; Lizzie Mayland ‘s guitar and Georgia Davies ‘ bass a frenetic tangle; Aurora Nishevci taking the lead with their luminous voice in the silence as her bandmates coo in the background. Their charm and charisma onstage are beyond intoxicating. And if every soul in the Fonda wasn’t enamored with them at the start of their set, they were at its end.

All the proof you need of their ability to incite their audiences to grand romantic gestures came during their encore when Morris invited two fans onstage for a proposal that drew just as much joy and tears from the crowd as one of their songs. They then proceeded to close out the night with the fittingly impassioned “Nothing Matters,” howling out its torrid chorus in honor of the newly engaged couple.

King Isis rocked the absolute hell out of the early arrivers at the Fonda—winning over the crowd with the raw emotion of their music. Playing songs from their shed EP as well as their new single “Dissonance,” they absolutely made more than a few fans that night. Near the end of their set, she pulled out the noisy rock bangers, and King Isis proceeded to wail and melt faces. She was also joined by The Last Dinner Party for their final song—a favor she returned at the end of the night—giving the whole show the celebratory momentum the final night of a tour should have.

King Isis at the Fonda Theatre by Steven Ward

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Last One at the Party: An intriguing post-apocalyptic survivor's tale full of dark humour and wit Kindle Edition

Fleabag meets I Am Legend in this extraordinary novel of one woman's survival in the face of the end of the world . . .

Print length 398 pages
Language English
Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date February 4, 2021
File size 1979 KB
Page Flip Enabled
Word Wise Enabled
Enhanced typesetting Enabled
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ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08GKCFK7L
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder & Stoughton (February 4, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 4, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1979 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 398 pages
#416 in Humorous Science Fiction (Books)
#1,447 in Dystopian Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
#1,784 in Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction (Kindle Store)

About the author

Bethany clift.

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5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 54% 30% 11% 3% 2% 11%
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Customers find the main character unusually realistic. They also describe the writing style as well-written, great, and entertaining. Readers also say the content is timely and pertinent.

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Customers find the book entertaining, well delivered, and pertinent. They also appreciate the unique take and premise.

"...novel during this second year of the Covid pandemic, this book was entertaining ...." Read more

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Customers find the writing style very well written, believable, and good. They also say the concept is great and well delivered.

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Hotel worker issues 7 things you should never do when visiting a hotel

@mamafromarkansas/TikTok Hryshchyshen Serhii/ShutterStock FollowFollowMe/ShutterStock (Licensed)

‘Don’t book Expedia’: Hotel worker issues 8 things you should never do when visiting a hotel

‘somebody had to tell y’all how to act.’.

Vanessa St-Amand

Posted on Aug 18, 2024 Updated on Aug 18, 2024, 7:05 am CDT

Travel etiquette isn’t always clear-cut, so one TikToker took it upon herself to educate her followers on the dos and don’ts of staying at a hotel. MamafromArkansas (@mamafromarkansas) shared her insights in a video that has garnered over 284,000 views since its upload on July 23.

“I work a front desk at a hotel and I’m gonna read off a list of things you should not do as someone who is coming to visit a hotel,” MamafromArkansas started.

She then promptly went through her list. Here are 8 things to (pretty please) avoid doing at hotels, according to someone who would know.

Don’t show up late for your reservation

MamaFromArkansas’s first point on her list is on lateness. In some cases, arriving the day after the reservation date means a room will no longer be available.

“The first one: do not show up the day after your reservation thinking you’re gonna check in to a reservation,” she warned.

“It has gone into no-show and we no longer have that reservation because you did not show up for the reservation on the date you said you were going to show up.”

Don’t use third-party booking websites

The second point on MamaFromArkansas’s list addressed using popular travel booking sites.

“Do not book [with] third-party [booking sites]. Don’t book with Expedia,” she warned.

According to MamaFromArkansas, if there’s a problem with the reservation, the hotel won’t be able to assist.

“What’s gonna happen is your reservation’s gonna get lost. You need a refund. You need to cancel… something’s gonna happen and we cannot touch that reservation because you booked third-party; you have to call the third party. It’s the same as if you ordered DoorDash and the restaurant messes up your order, they tell you ‘Hey, we can’t fix that. You have to call DoorDash,’” she explained.

We’ve reached out to Expedia about this for a response.

Don’t ignore the confirmation email

A minor mistake, such as choosing the wrong dates, can result in not having a room. This problem happens more often than one might think.

“Do not get mad at an employee because you booked the wrong dates for the reservation. It’s not our fault and we send you a confirmation via email so that’s your fault for not booking the correct dates and not double-checking yourself.”

No means no

“If you call and ask if we have availability on a certain date and we tell you no, please don’t ask four more times if I’m sure that we have availability.”

MamafromArkansas assures the audience she’s not mistaken. If she said no, it’s a definite no.

“I’m looking right at the screen and it’s not giving me any inventory for those dates,” she clarified.

Don’t let your kids run wild while you’re drunk

Another item on her “do not do” list: Inebriated parents leaving their children unsupervised.

“Please do not bring your kids to an event whether it be sporting, school, whatever, and let them run amuck in the hotel and tear things up while you’re at the bar getting drunk.”

Don’t rush to a bad review

In the next point, she explains her frustration with guests who leave negative reviews without first giving the hotel the chance to remedy the problems.

“Please do not leave the hotel if you’ve had issues, and you do not let us know, and then leave and give us a bad review. You did not give us an opportunity to fix your issues so why would you write a bad review?” she asked.

Don’t make assumptions about amenities

Next, MamaFromArkansas advises patrons to thoroughly research the hotel and its amenities before making a reservation to ensure that the hotel can meet their specific needs.

“Do not book a reservation at a hotel before you’ve […] looked and see what amenities that hotel has to offer,” she explained.

“If you want free breakfast, maybe make sure that [the] hotel offers free breakfast.”

Don’t wait until the last minute if you need to cancel

She wraps up her list with a quick reminder about what happens if you wait too long to cancel your reservation.

“And last, but not least, please do not be the person that thinks that policies do not apply to you. We have a 24-hour cancellation policy which means if you call the day of your reservation, you’re gonna get charged the late cancellation fee and at my property, it is for the entire rate for the first night. That is it. That is all.”

At the finale, MamafromArkansas makes a playful announcement: “Now that I’ve given you a tutorial on how to act and things not to do at a hotel, I do expect to have better interactions with y’all.”

‘It backfired obviously’

When the Daily Dot contacted MamaFromArkansas, she shared her thoughts on the experience of her video going viral.

“So I originally started making the videos because I get yelled at a lot and guests get upset with us a lot simply because they don’t understand how hotels work… policies and such. I thought it would maybe help people understand why certain situations happen and even try to prevent them from happening. Making our jobs at the front desk easier and making guests [stay] more pleasant,” she wrote.

@mamafromarkansas Somebody had to tell y’all how to act #hotelworker #frontdeskchronicles #frontdesklife #fyp #MamaFromArkansas ♬ original sound – MamaFromArkansas

There were, however, some people who did not receive the video as she intended.

“It backfired obviously. I got tons of backlash from people who don’t work at hotels. Well, the entitled people. Some people were appreciative of the information. Some people didn’t like [the] way I delivered the information so they didn’t receive the message well. However[,] I gained quite a few followers, a lot of them also work at hotels so they understand.”

Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here . You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.

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Vanessa St-Amand is a freelance reporter for the Daily Dot based in South Florida. She has an extensive background in online marketing and spends her free time discussing intriguing topics for the terminally online.

The Last Dinner Party tell us about their “steampunk” next album and plans for Reading & Leeds

Backstage at Lollapalooza, The Last Dinner Party told NME about the inspiration and shifting aesthetic for their second LP, and what they'd do with the Mercury Prize cash

Aurora Nishevci, Emily Roberts and Abigail Morris of The Last Dinner Party perform during Lollapalooza at Grant Park on August 04, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/WireImage)

The Last Dinner Party caught up with NME at Lollapalooza to tell us about their Mercury Prize nomination, progress on their next album and plans for Reading & Leeds 2024

READ MORE: Mercury Prize 2024: check out the shortlisted nominees here

The band’s Aurora Nishevci and Lizzie Mayland spoke to us ahead of their performance on the Tito’s stage at the annual Chicagoan music bash, just a week after their debut album ‘ Prelude To Ecstacy ‘ was announced as one of the 12 LPs up for this year’s Mercury .

In a four-star review of the critically-acclaimed album , NME shared: “Some may choose to posit the band’s success as an antidote to the intense scrutiny – about their rise, appearance and decision to make music without a ‘serious’ intention – they’ve received in their early career. But take all of that away, and you’re still left with fantastic songs that are easy to embrace and return to. It’s hard to miss all the things they’re doing right.”

“We’re very humbled to be nominated for the Mercury Prize,” Nishevci told NME. “ We did not expect it at all. It’s a stellar line-up, got a bit of [ Charli XCX ‘s] ‘ Brat ‘ in there, English Teacher; it’s phenomenal. It’s such a prestigious award.”

The Last Dinner Party performs during Lollapalooza at Grant Park on August 04, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Josh Brasted/FilmMagic)

After learning that the recipient of the award also wins a cash prize of £25,000, the two members told us about what they would do with the money. “Go on holiday. Maybe reinvest in the music industry,” Mayland shared, with Nishevci adding: “Synths, some synths!”

“Some charities is kind of what I was thinking but synths! Buy a massive synth for Aurora to play on stage,” Mayland added.

The duo also shared their thoughts on the cancellation of the Prize’s usual live performance element at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith , with Nishevci saying: “It’s kind of sad that there’s not a live show for the Mercury’s. Is it a show of the state of the music industry in England? It’s kind of like, a bit depressing.”

Nishevci added: “Awards are great for actually meeting other artists and seeing them perform because you don’t when you’re on tour, you very rarely cross paths. Those places are important just to create a community, like get to know everyone and feel like you’re a part of something.”

Check out our full interview below, where the band also told us what is in store for their second album, and their upcoming performance at this year’s edition of Reading & Leeds.

NME: Hi Aurora and Lizzie From The Last Dinner Party. How does it feel to be one of the hottest acts around compared to the early days of the band?

Lizzie Mayland: “We never expected it to be this successful. Our aim when we set out was to be a really good live band, and then recorded the album trying to capture the energy of the live shows and I think we did that, and I think that’s what people are responding to.

“It’s just so cool to be able to do this for a living and come to Chicago, come to Lollapalooza. We’ve just been to Japan. It has open so many doors I never thought were even within reach. It’s very difficult to wrap your head around, to be honest, quite surreal.”

You scored the biggest first week album sales for nearly a decade with ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’. Are you guys feeling any pressure while creating your second album?

Aurora Nishevci: “Nah. I mean, there is a pressure going into the second album I guess, but I don’t think we’re so focused on that. We’re more excited because the first album for us was ages ago. We recorded it ages ago, like, a year before we actually released it. We’ve been so nonstop busy playing shows and everything since then so it’s exciting to be home and writing because that’s what we’ve been doing since we were kids. We’ve been creative little weirdos so it’s nice to get back to that space. It’s exciting.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by NME (@nmemagazine)

What has the songwriting process been like? Is there anything that is inspiring the world-building process for the album?

Nishevci: “We’ve started writing songs for album two. So we’re starting to get ideas. We’ve not set out a concept for it, but we know we want to shift away aesthetically from album one, in terms of how we dress and the whole world. It’s still connected, but moving on to something a bit different”

Mayland: “Something new. Also, we all went shopping a lot in Japan and I feel like that’s really changed the aesthetic.”

Nishevci: “It’s cemented a whole new thing for us”

Mayland: “It’s steampunk, baby! Let’s go!”

You guys are set to play Reading & Leeds later this month. How are you guys feeling about performing at such an iconic festival?

Mayland: “We’re playing the main stage, so I’m very excited for that. Also, I’m from Yorkshire near Leeds, so it’s always special for me to play in Yorkshire, that’s always a nice feeling.

“It’s definitely a younger crowd. Last time we were there, there were a lot of lads in bucket hats, which we love. Hopefully they’ll come and bring the moshpit energy, because we’ve not had too much of that in the States. People don’t mosh here as much. People dance, but they don’t mosh. So I’m excited for a bit of chaos, hopefully.”

Any memories from attending Reading & Leeds that stick out to you?

Nishevci: “At Reading, I discovered London Grammar when I was young. I went to Reading Festival, and it was kind of one of those moments when you just walk around, and that’s what I love about festivals when you walk around and you’re like, ‘That sounds good’, pop in. Then you’re like, ‘Whoa, my new favourite band,’ and that was London Grammar. Yeah, special.”

The Last Dinner Party are set to embark on a European headline tour this autumn . Visit here for tickets and more information.

Reading & Leeds will return for the August Bank Holiday weekend. Tickets are on sale now for both locations, and are available for purchase here (for Reading) and here (for Leeds) .

Related Topics
Mercury Prize
The Last Dinner Party

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LAST ONE AT THE PARTY: the most original and unforgettable debut of 2021

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LAST ONE AT THE PARTY: the most original and unforgettable debut of 2021 Hardcover – 4 February 2021

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THE END OF EVERYTHING WAS HER BEGINNING It's December 2023 and the world as we know it has ended. The human race has been wiped out by a virus called 6DM ('Six Days Maximum' - the longest you've got before your body destroys itself). But somehow, in London, one woman is still alive. A woman who has spent her whole life compromising what she wants, hiding how she feels and desperately trying to fit in. A woman who is entirely unprepared to face a future on her own. Now, with only an abandoned golden retriever for company, she must travel through burning cities, avoiding rotting corpses and ravenous rats on a final journey to discover if she really is the last surviving person on earth. And with no one else to live for, who will she become now that she's completely alone? *** 'I adored this book . . . It's about who you are with nobody to witness you, what it means to be human, and how to live' Gillian McAllister 'Sharp, funny, emotional and a refreshingly different take on a post-apocalyptic world' Lisa Hall 'A fresh, frank, funny and surprisingly uplifting book about the end of the world' Elizabeth Kay

Print length 368 pages
Language English
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date 4 February 2021
Dimensions 16 x 3.6 x 24 cm
ISBN-10 1529332125
ISBN-13 978-1529332124
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Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder & Stoughton (4 February 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1529332125
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1529332124
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 587 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16 x 3.6 x 24 cm
Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ United Kingdom
#18,851 in Humour (Books)
#26,765 in Science Fiction (Books)
#100,055 in Contemporary Fiction (Books)

About the author

Bethany clift.

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The Night of the Party, by Anna-Lou Weatherley
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Book Review: Last One At The Party by Bethany Clift

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Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift
Alone in a new world of burning cities, rotting corpses and ravenous rats, one woman has survived. A woman who has spent her whole life compromising what she wants and hiding how she feels to meet other people's expectations. From her career to her relationships, to what she wears and where she lives, she's made a lifetime of decisions to fit ...
Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift
Fast-paced, tragic, wholesome and laugh-out-loud funny, Clift's debut has left me grateful for the little things, excited for what else she has to offer - and making plans for my apocalypse bunker. 'Last One At The Party' by Bethany Clift is published by Hodder & Stoughton, £12.99 hardback. Also available as an eBook and audiobook.
Last One At The Party By Bethany Clift: A Review
Last One at the Party is the diary transcript of an unnamed protagonist, who finds herself alone in December 2023 after a pandemic has besieged the world. The disease is called 6DM - short for "Six Days Maximum" - that's how quickly it gets you. And it is ghastly - the type of disease that would strike in a disaster movie.
Book review: Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift
At turns funny and self-deprecatory, tearily grief-stricken and self-recriminatory, triumphant and hopelessly lost, Last One at the Party is that apocalyptic novel you have been craving, a story that feels unburdeningly real and uplifting and something with which you can wholly identify. In fact, you come to love the protagonist warts and all ...
Last One at the Party: this year's most original and unforgettable
From one extreme to the next, touching upon all topics from masturbation to cocaine, Bethany Clift absolutely won my heart with Last One at the Party, and I am really, really excited to have discovered this author and her wonderful way with words, those of which truly lit this story alight. It's 2023, and the world has ended.
Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift: High times on the road with the
Last One at the Party is almost unique in that it's a full-on, end-of-the-world dystopia that is at the same time smart-arsed, bawdy, entertaining and frequently very funny. It's quite a trick ...
Book Review: Last One At The Party by Bethany Clift
The thought of reading about a devastating global pandemic, during an actual global pandemic, isn't immediately appealing. When so many of us read to escape reality, surely we wouldn't want to subject ourselves to a book that takes everything we've spent over a year agonising over and spins it into a story that's somehow even more terrifying.
Last One At the Party by Bethany Clift
Last One At The Party has representation of mental health and addiction issues in a few characters. It could be argued that the central character presents nuanced representation, learns and grows. However, the other person with mental health issues was 100% awful. And when we learn the backstory, it becomes more awful.
Last One at the Party
The debut novel from Bethany Clift, Last One at the Party takes a classic sci-fi trope - the sole survivor at the end of the world - and strips it back to its core, delivering a powerful, emotional story of a regular woman in a recognisable world gone wrong. In a very near future, even the lessons learned from the Coronavirus pandemic are no use when a new, horrifyingly virulent virus ...
Last One at the Party: a post-apocalyptic novel that hit home…hard
It's December 2023 and the world as we know it has ended. The human race has been wiped out by a virus called 6DM ('Six Days Maximum' - the longest you've got before your body destroys itself). But somehow, in London, one woman is still alive. A woman who has spent her whole life compromising what she wants, hiding how she feels and desperately ...
The Pigeonhole
Last One at the Party. December 2023. The human race has fought a deadly virus and lost. The only things left from the world before are burning cities and rotting corpses. But in London, one woman is still alive. Although she may be completely unprepared for her new existence, as someone who has spent her life trying to fit in, being alone is ...
Last One At The Party By Bethany Clift: Book Review
It is important to state here that this is not a book about a pandemic but a book with a pandemic in it. The author makes it clear from her author's note that this is the case. It is about a life not death. Last One at the Party is set in 2024 in the UK. The UK government and its people watch in horror as the virus known as 6DM spreads across ...
Last One At The Party: Bethany Clift interview
Last One At The Party, the debut novel by Bethany Clift, has been tipped as one of the best reads of 2021. Carl Marsh was hooked from the first few pages, lost the track of time, and wanted to find out more from her - so he did. This book is based around a world-ending virus, and mentions COVID-19 a little - though this was presumably added ...
Reviews
Reviews Last One At The Party by Bethany Clift. Only show reviews with written explanations. emma_jade91's review against another edition. Go to review page ... I expected to be bored with this book at some point, for there to be parts where it dragged and nothing was happening. However, it managed to find a perfect balance between the horrific ...
Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift
Last One at the Party Bethany Clift. 400 pages • first pub 2021 ISBN/UID: 9781529332124. Format: Hardcover. Language: English. Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton. Publication date: 04 February 2021. fiction dystopian science fiction dark medium-paced. to read ...
Last One at the Party : Clift, Bethany: Amazon.ca: Books
Last One at the Party is Bethany Clift's fantastic debut novel. Clift has written a book that embraces one of my favourite premises - an apocalyptic road novel. Covid has come and gone in this book, only to be replaced by an even more deadly virus at the end of December 2023. Virus 6DM will kill you in six days maximum.
Last One at the Party: An intriguing post-apocalyptic survivor's tale
Buy Last One at the Party: An intriguing post-apocalyptic survivor's tale full of dark humour and wit 1 by Clift, Bethany (ISBN: 9781529332124) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
Book review: Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift
Oh hello. 2020 was a strange one wasn't it? I lost my reading and blogging mojo amongst this tumultuous time, but after a refreshing break ...
Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift
Synopsis. Full of wit, heartbreak and humour, Last One at the Party is a staggeringly original debut about the end of the world as we never imagined it, set in an apocalyptic London. It's December 2023 and the world as we know it has ended. The human race has been wiped out by a virus called 6DM ('Six Days Maximum' - the longest you've got ...
Last One At The Party: Clift, Bethany: 9781529379143: Amazon.com: Books
Last One At The Party. Hardcover - May 11, 2021. by Bethany Clift (Author) 4.3 2,683 ratings. See all formats and editions. THE END OF EVERYTHING WAS HER BEGINNING. It's December 2023, and the world as we know it has ended. The human race has been wiped out by a virus called 6DM ('Six Days Maximum' - the longest you've got before your body ...
Last one at the party- Bethany Clift
Basically the main character is one of the few survivors of a deal pandemic and it follows how she copes in the immediate aftermath and later. Its hard to talk about it much without giving the story away but... I found parts of it really sad, made me think quite a lot about covid times. But the ending weirdly really stuck with me.
Show Review & Photos: The Last Dinner Party hosts a ravishing final
The Last Dinner Party ended their tour at the Fonda Theatre in a characteristically spectacular fashion, leaving fans ravished and aglow in the wake of their rapturous baroque anthems.
Last One at the Party: An intriguing post-apocalyptic survivor's tale
Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift is an absolute must-read, and I recommend this to anyone who enjoys an epic journey, one that will remain in your head and mind for a long time after turning the final page. I've no doubt that this book will make an appearance in my top ten of 2021, and I'm excited to see what will be next from Bethany ...
Can I Show For My Reservation? Hotel Worker Speaks Out
Don't use third-party booking websites The second point on MamaFromArkansas's list addressed using popular travel booking sites. "Do not book [with] third-party [booking sites].
The Last Dinner Party talk "steampunk" new album and Reading ...
The Last Dinner Party performs during Lollapalooza at Grant Park on August 04, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Josh Brasted/FilmMagic) After learning that the recipient of the award also wins ...
Buy LAST ONE AT THE PARTY: the most original and unforgettable debut of
Think of it as a literary version of 28 Days Later: terrifying, convincingly constructed, heart-pounding at times, often blackly funny ― Irish Independent Review Last One At The Party is brilliant and creepy, yet surprisingly funny and feminist ― Press Association A compelling, engaging, enthralling novel that keeps the reader turning the ...
The Dragon Prophecies: Book One of the Return of the Dragons
A young man named Finlay can speak with animals. They also have the ability to speak with one another telepathically. There's so much to unravel with this, the first book in The Return of the Dragons series, as it covers so much ground and moves quickly. That's one of the things I appreciated about this story.

On: Yorkshire Magazine

Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift – Review

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