Severance by Ling Ma

Join us this May as we read Severance by Ling Ma, a darkly funny and hauntingly prescient novel about modern life, late capitalism, and what remains when everything falls apart.

Candace Chen is a creature of habit—content with her publishing job in Manhattan and her predictable routines—until a mysterious fungal pandemic, Shen Fever, begins to hollow out the world around her. As the city empties and society grinds to a halt, Candace documents the eerie aftermath as a blogger under the name NY Ghost.
But survival brings new complications. When she joins a group of survivors led by the controlling and enigmatic Bob, Candace must decide whether to follow his vision of rebuilding society—or break away, even if it means facing the unknown alone.
Severance is a genre-blurring mix of post-apocalyptic road novel, office satire, and millennial coming-of-age story. Ling Ma's debut holds up a mirror to the absurdities of modern existence—asking what we cling to, what we let go of, and who we become when the world ends quietly, one routine at a time.