The US and Middle East are decimated in the aftermath of nuclear war (where do people get this stuff?), and Europia is a supposed utopia that extends to Australia. People are required to move countries every three years, and individualism is a core principle.
Hold Back the Stars is a love story, one in which a couple must triumph over the individual/law of the land (which confuses me). When we meet them, our protagonists Carys and Max are in spacesuits far from earth with 90 minutes of air left. Their story is told in flashbacks, interspersed between life in the now.
I'm not the biggest lover of love stories, so HBtS isn't the book for me, and I won't say anymore about it. Holler if you want it, and I'll mail it to you. You can find my email address without much effort!