The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird

Condition: Great

Mel recommends - If you love a pandemic novel, The End of Men is one to add to your list. Set in 2025, a mysterious virus breaks out that only affects men. Dr. Amanda MacLean is the first to recognise the pattern, but when she tries to sound the alarm, she’s dismissed as hysterical. By the time the world takes her seriously, it’s too late—the virus has spread globally, leaving a world led almost entirely by women.

What blew my mind about this book was that it was written in 2018, pre-COVID, yet the way leaders, countries, and everyday people reacted felt eerily familiar. It was almost like fortune-telling. And in this alternate reality where women take control, a cure for endometriosis is finally found—coincidence? I think not. This is a sharp, thought-provoking debut, and I’ll be keeping an eye on whatever Christina Sweeney-Baird writes next!

Glasgow, 2025. Dr Amanda Maclean is called to treat a young man with a mild fever. Within three hours he dies.

The mysterious illness sweeps through the hospital with deadly speed. The victims are all men.

This is how it begins.

Dr Maclean raises the alarm, but the sickness spreads to every corner of the globe. Threatening families.

Governments. Countries.

Can they find a cure before it's too late? Will this be the story of the end of the world - or its salvation?

Compelling, confronting and devastating, The End of Men is the novel that everyone is talking about.