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.