Book One, Chapter 1 Summary

Dr Theodore Faron fills the first pages of his diary on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday, which is also New Year's Day in 2021. Through his diary he introduces himself as a doctor of philosophy and a historian of the Victorian age. He is divorced and childless. He is also the cousin of Xan Lyppiatt, the Warden of England, which is a position that has replaced the Prime Minister.

Humankind has lost the ability to procreate and, in his diary, Theo, as he is called, recounts a news bulletin he has just heard about the death of the last human being whose birth was officially recorded. Joseph Ricardo died at the age of twenty-five years, two months, and twelve days in a pub brawl in Buenos Aires. His death appears to be of little significance, being noted by a...