Z for Zachariah was Robert C. O’Brien’s final novel, published in 1974 posthumously after his death in 1973. His wife and daughter worked together using the notes he left behind so they would be able to complete it. The result is a novel that may assertively be said to have three authors rather than one. Its subsequent commercial success and critical acclaim stand as proof that a singular vision can be maintained through a novel completed as a collective endeavor.
The novel, a dark piece of science fiction, won an Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery in 1976. It tells a story of survival at the end of the world after (presumably) a nuclear disaster. A film adaptation of the novel was...
