M. John Harrison joins Tom’s Book Club to discuss The End of Everything, his unsettling, darkly satirical novel shortlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize.
Set in a world where government barely functions, Europe has been mislaid and strange new creatures inhabit the seas, the novel follows Phillip Tennent, a beachcomber who makes his living collecting artefacts washed ashore. But when he discovers something he cannot keep, he must take it inland, with potentially catastrophic consequences. Blending literary fiction, science fiction and dark humour, The End of Everything explores a world that no longer makes sense, and the limits of what we can ever truly understand.
In this conversation, M. John Harrison discusses the origins of the novel, the influence of the 2008 financial crisis, and how he developed its strange and unsettling world. We explore the mysterious iGhetti, the novel’s playful references to technology and consumer culture, and the different interpretations readers bring to a story that resists easy explanation. Harrison also talks about the influence of film on his writing, the challenge of balancing the extraordinary with the mundane and which of his books readers should explore next.
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