A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is grey. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.
This 2006 novel by Cormac McCarthy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormac_McCarthy) was adapted for film by John Hillcoat -starring Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce and Charlize Theron. Available on DVD at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-DVD-Viggo-Mortensen/dp/B0036ORZ82/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1387050911&sr=1-1&keywords=the+road
256 pages in Picador paperback edition
ISBN 978-0330513005
Cormac McCarthy