The year is 2031, and the world has been irreversibly changed. A biological weapon has swept the globe, killing more than four billion men — leaving a handful of male survivors locked in a zombie-like state of violent aggression, incapable of recognising the women around them as anything other than a threat. Women now face an impossible truth: the only living men on earth are the very ones who will try to kill them on sight.

The Summit Recovery Project is the last hope. Assembled at a remote base in Finland, a British team of scientists, soldiers, medics, and engineers sets out on what many believe to be a hopeless mission: to understand the infection, develop a treatment, and restore enough men to give the human race a future. What they discover over four gruelling years defies every expectation — from the unexpected role of fur coats to the development of a treatment that is, by necessity, brutal.

Framed as the final report of Dr. Elizabeth Fullerton, the novel unfolds as part field log, part memoir — an unflinching account of the science, the sacrifice, and the human cost of attempting the impossible. Fullerton's voice is measured and precise, even as the stakes could not be higher: without a working treatment, humanity will simply age into extinction.

Summit Recovery Project: Final Report is not only a story of survival science. At its heart, it is a story about love — in all its forms — and about the hard lessons of how men and women need each other. The new society that emerges from the rubble of the old is not the one anyone imagined, but it may be the one that was always meant to be.

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Excerpt from Summit Recovery Project: Final Report © Copyright 2026 Dr. Elizabeth Fullerton PhD

“Okay, I think we're good to go. Anybody not ready?”

Nobody said anything.

“Perfect, so quiet please everyone, we're going in 3,2,1”

Kelly looked directly into one of the cameras and recited her introduction perfectly, ending with the words “It's my enormous pleasure to introduce James Cordon, the first of what we hope will be many men to be successfully treated for Summit infection.”

She looked at James, waiting for his response, but he was unable to find the words. Several seconds passed.

“No problem” said Kelly, “this happens all the time. Just focus your attention completely on me and the friendly chat we're having, ignore everything else. Are you okay to try again?”

James nodded, and she repeated her last sentence.

“It's a great pleasure to meet you Miss McDonald” replied James, much to Kelly's relief.

“Please call me Kelly, this isn't a tax inspection.”

James chuckled, “Thank-you Kelly, it's a great pleasure to meet you”

“I'd like to start by simply asking how you are. How are you?”

“Never better” replied James “quite literally never better. Before the outbreak I was seriously overweight, mainly because I lived on a junk food diet and got very little exercise, but in the weeks following the treatment I've felt increasingly strong, more energetic, more focussed and a lot less nervous around women. It's like I've had some sort of factory reset.”

“I'm delighted to hear it” replied Kelly. “May I ask what you remember of the start of the outbreak”

“Not much really, I remember it started in America and quickly spread around the world. I also remember waking up one morning, feeling a bit off-colour, and then nothing, like a whole chunk of my life simply vanished. I've since found out how utterly devastating the outbreak was and”, he looked directly at one of the cameras, “I want to express my deepest sympathies to everyone who suffered the loss of loved ones, I can't possibly imagine what you must have gone through these last few years, I'm so very sorry.”

“Thank you, but why are you apologising?” asked Kelly, departing from the script slightly.

“Because I'm here” said James passionately, “I survived this when so many didn't, and I don't deserve that.”

My tablet told me that his heart rate was increasing, so I got ready to call a halt to the interview if it went much higher, but Kelly saved the day.

“James” said Kelly, as she put down her script. “I'm sure I speak for absolutely everyone, and I mean everyone, when I say that we're all so grateful that you survived. Without you, and what you represent, our entire race had no future.

Without you, we'd all gradually grow old and die until, with the death of the last woman, the human race would finally become extinct. Because of you, it looks like that isn't going to happen. We can look forward to having children again, we can send them to school, give them skills, instil moral and ethical values in them and pass the torch to them. Never apologise for being alive.”

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