Tag Archive for: eco-fiction

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Dream State | 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.

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The New Wilderness | Diane Cook

 

In this haunting debut novel, Diane Cook explores a tense, often disturbing mother-daughter relationship against the backdrop of a world devastated by pollution, climate catastrophe, and overpopulation. Bea and her daughter Agnes are part of an experimental government study that allows a small group of volunteers to live in the untouched Wilderness State. Here the nomads must follow strict “Leave No Trace” rules enforced by the Rangers who oversee them. But the fragile community, marked by in-fighting, loyalties, and betrayals, is under constant threat, confronting both Bea and Agnes with the same wrenching choice—fight for the land they’ve come to love, or surrender their fragile freedom for the promise of survival elsewhere. A gripping drama of motherhood, nature, and humanity’s place in a fragile, endangered world.

 

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White Road | Harry Whitehead

Carrie is a Scottish rescue swimmer out of her depth in the High Arctic is pitted against Ross, the owner of an oil rig with a guilty conscience. While Amaruq, an Inuvialuit oil-rig worker is caught between two worlds.

Stranded on the Arctic ice with a starving polar bear and a half-dead stranger is Carrie’s left with nothing but deadly choices, while Ross and Amaruq face their own crossroads. Lives hang on their decisions. An intelligent, urgent, white-knuckle ride through the brutal Canadian Arctic, this is a novel that will get you thinking, keep you guessing – and leave you reeling. Whitehead’s vivid depiction of the hazards of ruthless extractivism couldn’t be more timely – and if there’s a Nerves of Steel Award, its heroine, Carrie Essler, would win it hands down.

From the cruel Arctic to the corporate backrooms of shady Big Oil, White Road is an authentic and gripping eco-thriller of survival, battled out at the edge of everything.

 

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Green Rising | Lauren James

In a near-future world rocked by the effects of the climate emergency, teenagers around the world begin developing the ability to grow plants using the power of their minds. The Greenfingers phenomenon has the potential to revolutionize how humanity interacts with the natural world, but it also brings challenges, greed, and moral dilemmas. As James’ three young protagonists come together, they challenge large, faceless corporations that prioritize profit over the planet – but they face tough decisions about the ethics of their power, raising questions about who controls nature, who profits from it, and the sacrifices needed for real change.

While James’ novel doesn’t shy away from the dark realities of environmental degradation, it emphasizes that change is within reach, particularly in the hands of young people.

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THE GREAT DERANGEMENT | AMITAV GHOSH

 

In this searing indictment — that’s also an empowering call to action — award-winning novelist and essayist Amitav Ghosh analyzes modern culture, history and politics to show how popular narratives have failed to wrestle with the reality of our collective climate crisis. The breadth of research is astounding but so too is Ghosh’s ability to diagnose the grave inadequacies of modern culture and offer some pathways forward. A book I return to again and again, The Great Derangement is haunting and harrowing, as Ghosh tells us some hard truths. But it’s also an inspiring challenge to writers, urging us to find new ways to tell the most important story on earth. — Melissa Jean Gismondi