The second cure / Margaret Morgan.

A Vintage Australia book.

Dark, thrilling and compulsively readable, The Second Cure is a provocative debut novel about control, female courage and belief, by screenwriter Margaret Morgan. A pandemic races through our world, changing people subtly but irrevocably. The first sign for Winnie is when she loses her faith. For Richard it's a violent outburst he never could have anticipated. Scientist Charlotte Zinn is close to a cure when her partner becomes infected. Overnight her understanding of the disease is turned upside down - could she actually be standing in the way of evolution? And reporter Brigid Bayliss is determined to uncover the dark truth behind Pastor Jack Effenberg's rapid rise to power, without getting caught in the murky underbelly of a church strengthened by the outbreak. Brigid and Charlotte find themselves on the frontline of a world splintering into far left and far right, with unexpected power to change the course of history. But at what cost?