Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this wonderful book by Eiren Caffall, with the audiobook gorgeously narrated by Eunice Wong. All opinions expressed in this review are my own – 5 stars!
This book is set in the near future, when climate change has devastated the world. Nonie and her older sister, their parents and fellow researchers have taken refuge on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. They hunt and grow food in Central Park and only scavage the exhibits if necessary. When a hypercane (a huge superstorm) breaches the city’s flood walls, Nonie and her family must escape on the Hudson River, determined to find a new world to honor what they’ve saved.
I sometimes have a love/hate relationship with dystopian/apocalyptic stories, but the writing in this book, and the audiobook narration, made it perfection. Told from Nonie’s point of view in the present, along with flashbacks letting the reader know what it was like before, this is an adventure story, a cautionary tale, and will make you think about what’s important to keep. While the subject matter is fightening in its potential reality, the book is filled with hope, with community and people trying to help. The writing was so beautiful, almost poetic, with lines to make you think, such as, “You never know in the darkness, who’s holding the light;” and “A building is just a body through which you live a life. What mattered was the people we found and lost.” I listened to the audiobook while reading, and the narrator’s voice was so haunting that it added layers to the story. Highly recommended!
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