The Break

The Break – A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller by Sean Gabb

What if Britain didn’t just leave the European Union—what if it left the modern world itself?

One morning, the United Kingdom wakes to find everything beyond its coasts erased. In its place: the year 1064. A Europe of Normans, Byzantines, the medieval Catholic Church, and the rising Islamic powers. Britain remains advanced, service-based, and crowded—but the supply chains are gone. No food. No fuel. No medicine.

At first it seems bizarre. Then it becomes terrifying. Within months, famine, riots, and disease have reduced the population by a third. The survivors live under a paranoid police state that treats the nation as a vast reindustrialising prison camp. And beyond the shores, the mediaeval world is watching. Waiting. Planning.

Amid the chaos, Jennifer – whose parents once ran a smuggling racket – finds herself drawn into a web of conspiracies she can barely understand. Who has taken her family? Why—how—is the Home Secretary striking deals with the Americans? And why does the Catholic Church fear the secret “Doomsday Project”?

Alongside Michael, a young Byzantine envoy, Jennifer must survive a nightmare London: a city stalked by cannibals, uniformed thugs, and motorbike gangs of Islamic suicide bombers. Together, they will face questions no one dares to ask. Can two young people stand against the British State itself? And if they fail—who, or what, will rule the Break?

Violent, satirical, and disturbingly plausible, The Break is a post-apocalyptic thriller that blends alternate history with savage political satire. Fans of Orwell, Ballard, and The Hunger Games will find themselves gripped from the first page.