The prophecy he’s given is like a ticking time bomb and, fearing death before he’s even had a chance to live, Simon escapes to San Francisco – much to the chagrin of his mother and elder siblings. Youngest child, Simon, is the apple of his mother’s eye, the one always expected to stay behind and take over the family tailor and dressmaking business. The year is 1969 and the children are too young to hear what the woman tells them – the precise day each of them will die.

The story revolves around the four Gold siblings, who visit a travelling fortune-teller in a grimy tenement in New York’s Lower East Side. These are the thought-provoking questions at the heart of Chloe Benjamin’s The Immortalists – a high-concept book that explores deep, all-consuming ideas about life, loss, love, the choices we make, and those that are made for us. How would you choose to live if you discovered the exact day you were going to die? Would it drive you towards a wild and reckless existence, propelling you to experience everything whilst you still can? Or would you live safely, avoiding all dangers and potential threats in order to prolong the years? Even if you chose to dismiss the prophecy as nonsense, how would that decision alter your future choices and, by extension, those around you?

Book review the immortalists