The End We Start From

The End We Start From uses the literary conventions of the dystopian and climate disaster survival genres while also offering a unique perspective on themes of motherhood, resilience, and human connection. Set in a world ravaged by environmental catastrophe, the novel explores the consequences of climate change and the resilience of the human spirit. By depicting London—a city renowned for its historic contributions to culture, politics, art, and literature—as destroyed by the flood waters of a climate crisis, the novel engages with environmentalism and the human response to crisis. Facing flooding and environmental devastation, the characters must confront the consequences of climate change and adapt to a rapidly changing environment.

While The End We Start From does not overtly speak to the events that caused the flooding or issue a direct environmentally conscious warning, the story does probe the personal impact of climate disaster. As the narrator, her baby, her partner, R, and her friend, O, grapple with surviving, they are forced to confront their own beliefs and values, ultimately finding strength in solidarity and community. The unnamed protagonist’s journey highlights how personal and collective ideologies are challenged and transformed in the face of adversity. As she navigates motherhood in a crumbling world, she ultimately finds solace and meaning in her connection to her child and her fellow survivors.

Because the novel is set in a world reconfigured by catastrophe, The End We Start From can be situated in the dystopian genre and shares thematic elements with classic dystopian works such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Like these novels, Hunter’s work presents a bleak vision of the future, characterized by environmental devastation and total social collapse. However, unlike other dystopian narratives that focus on totalitarian regimes or technological dystopias, The End We Start From highlights how environmental degradation can lead to societal upheaval and displacement. In this respect, parallels can also be seen with other works of climate disaster survival fiction such as Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. One key theme shared by both texts is the bond between parent and child. For example, in The Road, the father and son’s journey through a postapocalyptic landscape is driven by their mutual love and determination to survive. Similarly, in The End We Start From, the protagonist’s journey is motivated by her desire to protect her newborn child.

Both novels also explore the psychological toll of living in a world transformed by disaster. Characters in both texts grapple with loss, trauma, and the struggle to find meaning amid devastation. However, while The Road delves into the darkest aspects of human nature and the brutality of survival, The End We Start From offers a more hopeful and introspective exploration of resilience and renewal. Relief organizations and characters frequently help each other, though this optimism is tempered by danger, like when R’s parents are killed in trampling incidents. Additionally, the family reunites in the end, hinting that disasters might end the way the world currently exists but don’t snuff out life entirely.

In addition to its more hopeful ending, The End We Start From stands apart from other dystopian and climate-disaster survival in its unique focus on motherhood and the power of female friendship. Unlike many dystopian narratives, which often center on male protagonists navigating hostile and oppressive worlds, Hunter’s novel foregrounds the experiences of a new mother. Her relationship with O, a fellow new mother—is also central to the novel’s development and subverts traditional ideas about male figures carving the path to safety. The two friends thrive by working together, symbolized by them nursing each other’s children.

The novel also challenges both genres’ explorations of humanity’s response to the climate crisis by weaving the narrator’s first-person account of her experience with an italicized, third-person-narrated mythology that charts the creation, evolution, and destruction of the world. In an interview with Propeller magazine, Hunter observes that this section of the novel was influenced by her fascination with creation mythology and, specifically, by an anthology called Beginnings: Creation Myths of the World by Penelope Farmer and Antonio Frasconi. Hunter stated that The End We Start From was particularly shaped by her interest in a type of myth that is commonly referred to as “The Earth Diver.” Although many cultures offer different variations on the myth, the legend typically shares a few central ingredients: A creature dives into “primordial waters for a scrap of material that then grows and becomes the whole world” (Prieto, Thea. “Allegorical and Absolutely Human.” Propeller, 2018).

In a similar interview with Pan Macmillan, Hunter explains that her interest in creation mythology and philosophy—along with her personal experience with motherhood—influenced her desire to write a work of dystopian fiction that engages multiple variations of creation and apocalypse mythology while also offering a more hopeful ending. By placing motherhood at the heart of the narrative, The End We Start From offers a fresh perspective on dystopian themes, exploring how the maternal instinct for survival can transcend even the direst circumstances.