MAY
Natasha Walter on feminism in a world on fire, David Shukman on preparing for disaster, and a plunge into the darkest realms of the deep ocean are among our non-fiction picks this month, along with novels exploring longevity and the unravelling of the natural world, a book of wonder for children, and a classic poem by John Keats. What’s not to like?
May 2026
Non Fiction
Feminism For A World On Fire by Natasha Walter
Clear-eyed, eloquent and cogent, Natasha Walters’s argument that the eco-crisis is a feminist crisis could not come at a better moment. Wildfires, floods, heat domes, pollution and rising seas are not the only dangers facing women: authoritarian states, online misogyny and climate breakdown are endangering their wellbeing, lives and safety too. Yet Western feminism, Walter suggests, has become side-tracked into consumer-driven self-empowerment in a way that serves neither women nor the planet. The response, she argues, is a rooted feminism that connects to other movements for equality and environmental protection to build the caring, flourishing world that is still within our grasp.
No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies by Julian Aguon
‘A powerful, beautiful book. Its fierce love – of the land, the ocean, the elders and the ancestors – warms the heart and moves the spirit.’ – Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple
Part memoir, part manifesto, Chamorro climate activist Julian Aguon’s No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies is a coming-of-age story and a call for justice-for everyone, but in particular, for Indigenous peoples.
Aguon beautifully weaves together stories from his childhood in the villages of Guam with searing political commentary about matters ranging from nuclear weapons to global warming. Bearing witness and reckoning with the challenges of truth-telling in an era of rampant obfuscation, he culls from his own life experiences to illuminate a collective path out of the darkness.
A powerful and bold voice writing at the intersection of Indigenous rights and environmental justice.
The Dark Frontier: Unlocking the Secrets of the Deep Sea by Jeffrey Marlow
The deep sea is one of our planet’s last frontiers. Here, where the light cannot reach, lies a strange, wonderful and breathtaking world, teeming with scientific marvels and lessons for the future of life on this planet. In The Dark Frontier, marine microbiologist and explorer Jeffrey Marlow plunges us into the ocean’s depths and invites us to witness close-up encounters with its hidden brilliance. Translucent shrimp dance through sulphurous vents, crabs stretch twelve feet from claw to claw and the eerie chalk-white towers of the ‘Lost City’ loom.
Immersive and illuminating, Marlow’s journeys reveal alarming warning signs as well: we are irrevocably changing the deep sea before we have even had a chance to understand it. This book offers insights into the ways in which the twinned forces of exploration and exploitation have shaped our relationship with the ocean. It shows how life can thrive in even the most extreme conditions, and reveals critical links between the deep sea and life on land.
The Response by David Shukman
“This fascinating and gripping book has the power to open our eyes and shift our thinking in ways that few others can. Read on and get ready.” -Kate Raworth
In this timely account of Britain’s response to wildfires, heatwaves and flooding, David Shukman, the BBC’s former science and environment correspondent, doesn’t pull his punches. Why, he asks, is Britain, one of the richest nations in the world, so ill-prepared for such disasters, and why is its track record in dealing with them so terrible? Shukman’s investigation provides a gripping account of the new extremes that our bodies, buildings and landscapes face in Britain and around the world – and what we can do about them.
FICTION
Dream State by Eric Puchner
Puchner’s engrossing multi-generational portrait of a groups of family and friends in Montana is a thoughtful examination of love, loss, and the enduring effects of past choices. But it is in its depiction of the desecration of wildlife and the creeping effects of climate breakdown that it excels. The story starts by an idyllic Montana lake in the present era, with the quickly-doomed wedding of Ceci and Charlie. But as the decades go by, we see how the lives of the bride, the groom, his best man and their families are shaped by good or bad luck, critical decisions, betrayals – and the creeping effects of wildlife habitat loss and climate breakdown. Like the best novels that deal with environmental issues, it’s in specifics – like the sinking water level in the once-pristine lake, or the disappearance of the native wolverine – that the present and the near-future are brought to poignantly exquisite life.
The Last Children of Tokyo by Yoko Tawada
Yoshiro thinks he might never die. A hundred years old and counting, he is one of Japan’s many ‘old-elderly’; men and women who remember a time before the air and the sea were poisoned, before terrible catastrophe promted Japan to shut itself off from the rest of the world. He may live for decades yet, but he knows his beloved great-grandson – born frail and prone to sickness – might not survive to adulthood. Day after day, it takes all of Yoshiro’s sagacity to keep Mumei alive.
As hopes for Japan’s youngest generation fade, a secretive organisation embarks on an audacious plan to find a cure – might Yoshiro’s great-grandson be the key to saving the last children of Tokyo?
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers
A beautifully illustrated guide to our modern day planet for younger children.
“Well, hello. And welcome to this Planet. We call it Earth.
Our world can be a bewildering place, especially if you’ve only just got here. Your head will be filled with questions, so let’s explore what makes our planet and how we live on it. From land and sky, to people and time, these notes can be your guide and start you on your journey. And you’ll figure lots of things out for yourself. Just remember to leave notes for everyone else… Some things about our planet are pretty complicated, but things can be simple, too: you’ve just got to be kind.”
Suitable for 2 to 6 years old
Poem of the Month
On the Grasshopper and Cricket
by John Keats
The Poetry of earth is never dead:
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
That is the Grasshopper’s—he takes the lead
In summer luxury,—he has never done
With his delights; for when tired out with fun
He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
The poetry of earth is ceasing never:
On a lone winter evening, when the frost
Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,
And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,
The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills.
Contact our Librarian if you would like themed book lists to support teaching about climate change.
We’re always looking for ideas for books to add to our growing collection of literature on the climate and nature crisis. If would like to share ideas, please get in touch! Contact mattroselibrary@gmail.com.