In a tiny mining town called Jubilee, in the corner of the Kimberley, everyone’s phones go dead. Cars and trucks roll to a stop. Everything electrical – from televisions to medical equipment – is fried. The town is hurled into confusion, but 17-year-old Pru Palmer has worked out exactly what happened. They’ve been struck by an EMP – an electromagnetic pulse – which has wiped out their electronics, permanently. It’s unclear whether the EMP was a result of a solar flare or a targeted attack. Pru and her 15-year-old twin sisters have been trained for this moment.

Pru can navigate using stars, start a fire in pouring rain, and make rope from 50 different plants. Her father, who works at the zinc mine as an engineer, is a ‘prepper’: a survivalist bent on the idea that an apocalypse is nigh. He moved the family to Jubilee because it’s far away from major cities, which he’s sure will delve into cannibalistic chaos in the early weeks of disaster. In the event of a catastrophe, he’s drilled the girls into fleeing to a nearby bunker he built in the bush that’s decked out with enough supplies to outlast the ensuing chaos.

This concept, though it sounds outlandish, is executed in a brilliant, realistic way by Lili Wilkinson. Pru’s engaging narration reminded me of the unforgettable Ellie from John Marsden’s ‘Tomorrow’ series, as she grapples with a dilemma – should they share the vast resources of the bunker, or hole up like their father taught them to ensure their own survival?

My one qualm with this excellent book is in the introduction of Mateo, a visitor to town who Pru befriends in the early days of the disaster. He’s a rainbow-haired Puerto Rican who lectures Pru on how virginity is a patriarchal construct. This is a valid point, but some of the early conversations like this between Mateo and Pru feel forced, as if the author is shoe-horning in discussions about identity rather than engaging with them as part of the story. Mateo’s recollections of the racism he encountered back in New Jersey later in the book are far more convincing.

After the Lights Go Out is a thrilling book from one of Australia’s strongest YA writers that asks some terrifying questions about whether people will come together or turn rabid if civilisation crumbles. The author’s obviously extensive research into survival techniques, the traditions and language of the Indigenous Gija people, and the bizarre, paranoid world of preppers makes this book all the more fascinating.

Reviewed by Angus Dalton
Age Guide 14+