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Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands

Chris Bohjalian

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Similar in premise + setting

These books are ranked using the premise + setting labels extracted for Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Premise labels used: teen runaway, nuclear disaster, homeless survival, false blame, identity reinvention, grief aftermath, street survival, found family

Setting labels used: Vermont, Burlington, rural Vermont, nuclear town, post-disaster aftermath, contamination zone, homeless street life, evacuation site, contemporary setting

This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their premise + setting embeddings are close.

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The Leftovers

Tom Perrotta · 2011

After a mass disappearance upends a suburban town, the survivors struggle with grief, cults, and unfinished lives.

Why this is here

Premise labels: mass disappearance · left behind · grief aftermath · post-rapture · survivor crisis · community trauma · family fracture · meaning-making

Setting labels: small town · suburban setting · contemporary America · post-disaster world · post-rapture world · apocalyptic aftermath · fictional town · worldwide event

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2001

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Green Angel

Alice Hoffman · 2004 · Green Angel

After a family tragedy leaves a teen girl alone in an ash-covered world, she must survive grief and rediscover hope.

Why this is here

Premise labels: grief recovery · survival after disaster · family loss · coming of age · identity rebuilding · healing journey

Setting labels: unnamed town · unnamed city · country setting · post-disaster landscape · ash-covered world · lawless setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2249

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Point of Impact

Kyla Stone · 2018 · Nuclear Dawn

A young woman in Miami races through the nuclear aftermath to rescue her sister before fallout and old enemies close in.

Why this is here

Premise labels: nuclear attack · survival aftermath · family rescue · foster care · trusted stranger · catastrophe response · end of the world · city evacuation

Setting labels: Miami · United States · Everglades · post-apocalyptic · nuclear fallout zone · urban disaster · contemporary

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2289

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How to Fall in Love in a Time of Unnameable Disaster

Muriel Leung · 2024

In a post-apocalyptic New York, a heartbroken woman, her family, and their ghosts search for love, contact, and meaning.

Why this is here

Premise labels: post-apocalyptic survival · climate disaster · love amid collapse · grief after breakup · found family · haunted apartment building · radio contact · afterlife questions · community under crisis

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic New York City · dystopian city · apartment building setting · militarized control · quarantined boroughs · toxic wasteland · acid rain · future NYC · urban collapse · ghost-haunted world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2293

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Nuclear Dawn #1-5: The Post-Apocalyptic Box Set

Kyla Stone · 2019 · Nuclear Dawn

After nuclear blasts hit U.S. cities, a guarded young woman and a troubled drifter race through fallout to rescue her sister.

Why this is here

Premise labels: nuclear attack · post-disaster survival · sister rescue · survival journey · ordinary survivors · trust under pressure · anarchy aftermath · road to safe haven · family protection · collaborative survival

Setting labels: Miami · Everglades · United States · nuclear fallout · post-apocalyptic world · radioactive ruins · wasteland · urban collapse · rural refuge · contemporary

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2296

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The Blue Book of Nebo

Manon Steffan Ros · 2021

A mother and son survive a post-nuclear collapse in rural Wales by rebuilding life, language, and trust.

Why this is here

Premise labels: post-apocalyptic survival · family survival · rural self-sufficiency · found notebook · shared diary · going back to basics · language preservation · cultural preservation · nuclear aftermath · isolated household

Setting labels: North Wales · rural Wales · isolated cottage · hilltop house · post-apocalyptic world · post-nuclear world · near Anglesey · village outskirts · isolated countryside · future aftermath

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2296

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Strung

Per Jacobsen · 2021 · Strung Trilogy

A returning writer finds his hometown transformed by eerie apathy, hanging corpses, and a search for his missing son.

Why this is here

Premise labels: homecoming · missing child · small-town collapse · widespread strange behavior · body-horror mystery · apocalyptic outbreak · author protagonist · family search · social contagion

Setting labels: modern day · small town · hometown · isolated cabin · post-apocalyptic world · dystopian world · town under collapse · hospital · roadside crime scene

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2301

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Strung II: The Valley of Death

Per Jacobsen · 2022 · Udhængt

In a post-apocalyptic survivor community, a new discovery deepens mistrust as an unseen enemy and hidden loyalties close in.

Why this is here

Premise labels: post-apocalyptic survival · hidden enemy · survivor community · trust under pressure · family in crisis · unsolved threat

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic world · after the collapse · survivor settlements · rural refuge · communes · farm community

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2316

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The Last Stars in the Sky

Kate Hewitt · 2024 · Lost Lake

A fractured family retreats to a remote Canadian cabin, only to face a sudden nuclear-collapse survival ordeal.

Why this is here

Premise labels: family survival · nuclear disaster · isolated cabin · home loss · second chance · civilizational collapse · family reset

Setting labels: rural Canada · isolated cabin · lake house · wilderness · Ontario · cottage · post-collapse world · North America · winter setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2342

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Zombie Rules

David Achord · 2013 · Zombie Rules

A 16-year-old prepper-in-training survives a zombie outbreak and the worse danger of ruthless living survivors.

Why this is here

Premise labels: zombie apocalypse · survival story · prepper survival · teen survivor · human threat · lawless aftermath · infected world · friends under siege

Setting labels: rural farm · Tennessee · Middle Tennessee · near Nashville · post-apocalyptic America · worldwide infection · lawless society · small-town survival · farmstead · apocalypse aftermath

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2375

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And After

Sarah Lyons Fleming · 2014 · Until the End of the World

A safe haven in a zombie apocalypse starts to fail, forcing Cassie and her survivors to face loss, love, and danger.

Why this is here

Premise labels: zombie apocalypse · survival community · safe zone collapse · found family · love under pressure · post-apocalyptic rebuilding

Setting labels: zombie apocalypse · post-apocalyptic America · farm community · safe zone · winter-to-spring transition · rural refuge · new world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2381

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Sunrise

Mike Mullin · 2014 · Ashfall

After a supervolcano, Alex and Darla race to build a defendable community before winter, war, and human cruelty finish them off.

Why this is here

Premise labels: post-apocalyptic survival · community rebuilding · resource scarcity · civilization collapse · local power struggle · leadership under pressure · homestead building · defensible settlement · survival against humans · survival against environment · hope after disaster

Setting labels: post-Yellowstone eruption · ash winter · Midwest · Illinois · rural farm · small town · collapsed society · post-apocalyptic America · winter survival · war zone

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2384

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