LOCAL NEWS — The Brown Bag Book Club, which meets every Friday at the Moore County Public Library, recently announced their February pick, The Lightest Object in The Universe.

It’s a debut novel by Tucson author, Kimi Eisele, set in the dystopian U.S. after a flu outbreak and all the hints of modern society are gone. Government no longer exists. Electricity is gone, and so is the economy. Society remains in a state of collapse.

Here’s the Publisher’s Weekly’s book summary:

“A near-future apocalypse forms the backdrop for an intense, moving romance in Eisele’s smart debut. After the U.S. suffers runaway inflation, natural disasters, a flu epidemic, massive protests, and, finally, a nationwide cyberattack on the power grid, society breaks down. Somewhere on the East Coast, high school principal Carson Waller begins a cross-country trek in hopes of finding Beatrix, a woman he’d fallen in love with over email. Biking, walking, and hitchhiking, he slowly makes his way with the help of strangers who often talk about Jonathan Blue and the Center he leads, where food and amenities are provided for all who come. In alternating chapters, the story explores how Beatrix sows the seeds of a community through trade of goods and services with her West Coast neighbors. With no modern means of communication, Beatrix turns to the airwaves to share information, starting a radio show that becomes the center of a new group—and a beacon for Carson—that offers an alternative to the promises of Blue. Fans of Station Eleven will particularly enjoy this hopeful vision of a postapocalyptic world where there is danger, but also the possibility for ideas to spread, community to blossom, and people to not just survive, but thrive.”

The Brown Bag Book Club meets every Friday at 1 p.m. at the Moore County Public Library located at 17 Majors Boulevard. They begin and end a new book on the last Friday of each month. For more information, call 931-759-7285. •

{The Lynchburg Times is an independently owned, community newspaper that publishes new stories every morning. Covering Metro Moore County government, Jack Daniel’s Distillery, Nearest Green Distillery, Tims Ford State Park, Motlow State Community College, Moore County High School, Moore County Middle School, Lynchburg Elementary, Raider Sports, plus regional and state news.}