Wool

Generations after the world became unliveable, what remains of humanity survives sealed inside a vast underground silo, its levels connected by a single spiral staircase descending more than a hundred storeys into the earth. Life there runs on rigid rules and unspoken fears, and one prohibition stands above all: no one may ever say they want to go outside.

To voice that wish is to be granted it — sent out to clean the sensors that show the silo's only view of the poisoned world above, and to die in the toxic air. When a respected member of the community breaks this ultimate taboo, the act ripples through the silo's carefully maintained order and draws others toward the dangerous question of what is really true about their world.

Collecting the five novellas that launched Hugh Howey's phenomenon, Wool is a gripping, claustrophobic dystopia about secrets, control, and the cost of the truth. It became a self-publishing sensation and the basis for the Silo television series.