The Pesthouse by Jim Crace (2007)

Franklin and Margaret, two young people who meet in the aftermath of a tragic event, venture across the United States together in search of a better life.

However this is not the United States that we know; the story is set in the future when all modern technology has been obliterated. There is no internet, no phones, no cars, no factories, no machines.

In this America people make their own clothes and shoes by hand, hunt for food, and metal objects are rare.

There is also a mysterious illness that continues to strike terror in the remaining population, causing them to cast out from their small communities anyone who shows symptoms.

We follow Franklin and Margaret as they walk towards the East Coast, in the opposite direction of the original migrants that crossed America, where they hope to find a better life.

Will they survive the hazardous journey?