In the titular story from this collection, the world has gone to hell, and those with means have absconded to the sea, in cruise ships where no one gets off at port. One morning, a woman from one of the ships washes up to shore in a rescue boat, alive—but only barely. In this and other stories in Pinsker’s collection, there is grief and anger and hope, even when so much seems worthy of despair. The final story is the kind of gobsmackingly brilliant tale I want to hate her for writing (but don’t).