Winner of the 2021 Australian Shadows Award for Best Novel and "The dead will rise and your heart will race - The Girls Left Behind is a gut-wrenching hell ride through post-apocalyptic rural Australia and " - Emma Nayfie and "Vivid, visceral, and bloody terrifying in the best way possible and " - JM MerrytIn the wake of a deadly pandemic, three-year-old Zoey is left alone, trapped in her house, wondering why Mummy won't wake up; why Daddy never came home; why the world outside her window has stopped. But as the dead begin to rise, she won't be alone for long.Across the country, in a rural Australian community, sisters Merry and Claire think they're saved when the capable, but controlling, Mr Blake rescues them from a frenzied 'grinner'. But as Merry discovers the price she's paid for protection, she's forced to choose between her safety and her sanity.TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains scenes of self-harm.