Best New Books: Week of 7/20/21

“I thought—I want to go home. I want to be in a place that feels like home. Where that was, I did not know.” – Katie Kitamura, Intimacies



FICTION



Intimacies by  Katie Kitamura ★

intimaciesAn interpreter has come to The Hague to escape New York and work at the International Court. A woman of many languages and identities, she is looking for a place to finally call home.

She’s drawn into simmering personal dramas: her lover, Adriaan, is separated from his wife but still entangled in his marriage. Her friend Jana witnesses a seemingly random act of violence, a crime the interpreter becomes increasingly obsessed with as she befriends the victim’s sister. And she’s pulled into explosive political fires: her work interpreting for a former president accused of war crimes becomes precarious as their relationship is unbound by shifting language and meaning.

This woman is the voice in the ear of many, but what command does that give her, and how vulnerable does that leave her? Her coolly impassioned views on power, love, and violence, are tested, both in her personal intimacies and in her role at the Court. She is soon pushed to the precipice, where betrayal and heartbreak threaten to overwhelm her; it is her drive towards truth, and love, that throws into stark relief what she wants from her life.

Description from Goodreads.

“A master of cool disquiet… Kitamura writes with forceful, direct prose that makes for a bracing read and leaves the reader mesmerized.” – Vogue

“[A] thriller of a novel… In exploring how one’s proximity to power and violence can hold endless repercussions, Kitamura interrogates how our intimacies can change the course of our lives.” – TIME

“Calling all Rachel Cuskheads and W.G. Sebald stans! Kitamura is a novelist of enchanting imagination and minimalist prose style… The novel’s plot twists are of the subtle, jaw-tightening variety rather than the dramatic, stomach-knotting sort, but it’s still fair to call it a ‘psychological thriller.’ Intimacies is for those who like their addictive novels to sneak up behind them rather than slap them in the face.” – Vulture

“Katie Kitamura dazzles us again with Intimacies. Her style is so perfectly suited to my taste that everything she writes impresses. Her ability to impart vivacious detail with sparse and direct prose is a testament to her talent, and the moments that she is able to create between characters and places are memorable and beautiful. This book has stuck with me for months now, and I think of it often in the small moments of intimacy I find in my life.” – BuzzFeed

Available Formats:

Print Book (Coming Soon) | eBook


She Who Became the Sun by  Shelley Parker-Chan ★

she who became the sun“I refuse to be nothing…”

In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother’s identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother’s abandoned greatness.

Description from Goodreads.

“[A] gorgeous and sprawling masterpiece of historical fantasy.” – BuzzFeed

“A bold, breathtaking historical fantasy debut seething with intrigue and action… Vibrant and passionately inventive, She Who Became the Sun gives the aphorism ‘live life like your head is on fire’ dazzling new meaning.” – Shelf Awareness

“Parker-Chan’s fascinating debut, the first in the Radiant Emperor duology, gives the historical Red Turban Rebellion a grimdark fantasy twist… Her nuanced exploration of gender identity and striking meditation on bodily autonomy set this fantasy apart. Fans of Asian-influenced fantasy have just been given their newest obsession.” – Publishers Weekly

“The characters are bold and complex in this story of fealty, family, and self. Epic worldbuilding, high action, and ruthless shades of love and desire make the tale at turns tragic and inspiring… Parker-Chan’s debut is forceful, immersive, and unforgettable. This inspired queer retelling of Chinese history is an exciting read.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

Available Formats:

Print Book | eBook | eAudiobook


Nightbitch by  Rachel Yoder ★

nightbitchAn ambitious mother puts her art career on hold to stay at home with her newborn son, but the experience does not match her imagination. Two years later, she steps into the bathroom for a break from her toddler’s demands, only to discover a dense patch of hair on the back of her neck. In the mirror, her canines suddenly look sharper than she remembers. Her husband, who travels for work five days a week, casually dismisses her fears from faraway hotel rooms.

As the mother’s symptoms intensify, and her temptation to give in to her new dog impulses peak, she struggles to keep her alter-canine-identity secret. Seeking a cure at the library, she discovers the mysterious academic tome which becomes her bible, A Field Guide to Magical Women: A Mythical Ethnography, and meets a group of mothers involved in a multilevel-marketing scheme who may also be more than what they seem.

An outrageously original novel of ideas about art, power, and womanhood wrapped in a satirical fairy tale, Nightbitch will make you want to howl in laughter and recognition. And you should. You should howl as much as you want.

Description from Goodreads.

“Filled with wickedly smart observations and hilarious — and heartbreaking — moments.” – Business Insider

“[Nightbitch] might well be the debut of the year. A feral fairy tale of maternal dissatisfaction, it’s best to go into this one knowing as little possible, the better to let Yoder work her devious magic on you.” – Chicago Review of Books

“Yoder’s guttural and luminous debut blends absurdism, humor, and myth to lay bare the feral, violent realities underlying a new mother’s existence… Bursting with fury, loneliness, and vulgarity, Yoder’s narrative revels in its deconstruction of the social script women and mothers are taught to follow, painstakingly reading between the lines to expose the cruel and downright ludicrous ways in which women are denied their personhood. An electric work by an ingenious new voice, this is one to devour.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

“This book is part feminist indictment of the impossible state America’s mothers find themselves in, and part meditation on maternal fulfillment and rage. It’s also entirely bonkers and entirely relatable, perfectly capturing that impetus toward destruction you feel after everything else has been drained from you.” – Romper

Available Formats:

Print Book | eBook


Virtue by  Hermione Hoby ★

virtueArriving in New York City for an internship at an elite but fading magazine, Luca feels invisible: smart but not worldly, privileged but broke, and uncertain how to navigate a new era of social change. Among his peers is Zara, a young Black woman whose sharp wit and frank views on injustice create tension in the office. Luca is equally drawn to an attractive and wealthy white couple–a prominent artist and her filmmaker husband–whose lifestyle he finds alien and alluring. As summer arrives, Luca is swept up in the fever dream of their marriage, joining them at their beach house, and nurturing an infatuation both frustrating and dangerous. Only after he learns of a spectacular tragedy in the city he has left behind does he begin to realize the moral consequences of his allegiances.

In language at once lyrical and incisive, Hermione Hoby (“a writer of extreme intelligence, insight, style and beauty” – Ann Patchett) offers a clear-eyed, unsettling novel of the allure of privilege and the costs of complacency.

Description from Goodreads.

“[Hoby] might have just written the defining New York City novel of our fraught, socially anxious, and politically tumultuous times.” – Interview

“As she did in her radiant debut, Neon in Daylight, Hermione Hoby once again turns her keen eye on a very specific type of New York City privilege… Hoby is excellent here, cleverly — but never cruelly — pulling apart all the lies people tell themselves about what it means to be good, and offering a pellucid reminder of the dangers of complacency and inaction.” – Refinery29

“A small book about small things that becomes a big book about everything.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

“A delicious meditation on morality, nostalgia, and art… Hoby searingly renders Luca’s many worlds and lambasts insincere compassion with nuance.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

Available Formats:

Print Book | eBook


What Strange Paradise by  Omar El Akkad ★

what strange paradiseMore bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another overfilled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. But miraculously, someone has survived the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who is soon rescued by Vänna. Vänna is a teenage girl, who, despite being native to the island, experiences her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. And though Vänna and Amir are complete strangers, though they don’t speak a common language, Vänna is determined to do whatever it takes to save the boy.

In alternating chapters, we learn about Amir’s life and how he came to be on the boat, and we follow him and the girl as they make their way toward safety. What Strange Paradise is the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world. But it is also a story of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair–and about the way each of those things can blind us to reality.

Description from Goodreads.

“Great literature about migration should rehumanize the discourse surrounding it. What Strange Paradise does a fantastic job of that. Touching, gritty, and told in a unique voice that places childhood at the center of the discussion, this is a tender, haunting work about refugees everyone should read.” – NPR

“Riveting… an intimate action-adventure story that’s laced with hope and compassion, emotions with the power to transcend borders and worldly disputes.” – BookPage

“Searing, lyrical… A beguiling parable of dispossessed peoples and the burning desire for home.” – Oprah Daily

“El Akkad… expertly contrasts the well-paced story of Amir’s predicament with the ill-fated voyage that brought him to Greece. The ragtag bunch of strangers on the boat forms an incredibly well-drawn portrait of humanity as everyone bonds together initially, even with dollops of humor thrown in… A suspenseful and heartbreaking painting of the refugee crisis as experienced by two children caught in the crosshairs.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

Available Formats:

Print Book | eBook



SUSPENSE



For Your Own Good by  Samantha Downing ★

for your own goodTeddy Crutcher has won Teacher of the Year at the esteemed Belmont Academy, home to the best and brightest.

He says his wife couldn’t be more proud—though no one has seen her in a while.

Teddy really can’t be bothered with the death of a school parent that’s looking more and more like murder or the student digging a little too deep into Teddy’s personal life. His main focus is on pushing these kids to their full academic potential.

All he wants is for his colleagues—and the endlessly meddlesome parents—to stay out of his way.

It’s really too bad that sometimes excellence can come at such a high cost.

USA Today bestselling author Samantha Downing is back with her latest sneaky thriller set at a prestigious private school—complete with interfering parents, overeager students, and one teacher who just wants to teach them all a lesson…

Description from Goodreads.

“[A] sly, smart thriller.” – Star Tribune

“A slyly plotted page-turner… offers darkly comic amusement and ample surprises from its cast of unabashedly amoral schemers.” – Publishers Weekly

“Holy revenge, Batman! This is a delicious page-turner with so many layers of revenge, you won’t soon forget. I absolutely loved watching how this unfolded starting with a jerk teacher at a prep school who thinks it’s his job to punish others into being better.” – BookRiot

“Gripping, dark, funny, incisive and sharply observed from start to finish. ” – The Reading Desk

Available Formats:

Print Book | eBook | eAudiobook



MYSTERY



False Witness by  Karin Slaughter

false witnessAN ORDINARY LIFE

Leigh Coulton has worked hard to build what looks like a normal life. She has a good job as a defense attorney, a daughter doing well in school, and even her divorce is relatively civilized – her life is just as unremarkable as she’d always hoped it would be.

HIDES A DEVASTATING PAST

But Leigh’s ordinary life masks a childhood which was far from average… a childhood tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, and finally torn apart by a devastating act of violence.

BUT NOW THE PAST IS CATCHING UP

Then a case lands on her desk – defending a wealthy man accused of rape. It’s the highest profile case she’s ever been given – a case which could transform her career, if she wins. But when she meets the accused, she realizes that it’s no coincidence that he’s chosen her as his attorney. She knows him. And he knows her. More to the point, he knows what happened twenty years ago, and why Leigh has spent two decades running.

AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT

If she can’t get him acquitted, she’ll lose much more than the case. The only person who can help her is her younger, estranged sister Calli, the last person Leigh would ever want to ask for help. But suddenly she has no choice…

Description from Goodreads.

“Slaughter doesn’t save her twists for the end, instead peppering them throughout the intricately layered story amid stomach-churning near misses and gripping character revelations. Equal parts hyperrealistic thriller and epic tragedy, Slaughter’s latest is pitch-perfect storytelling.” – Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

“[False Witness] will keep readers transfixed. Slaughter is writing at the top of her game.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

“In the enthralling False Witness, Slaughter ramps up her storytelling skills to explore how two sisters cope with the aftermath of a crime. False Witness works well as a psychological exploration of its characters, as a legal thriller and as a family drama… Slaughter’s mastery at suspense is at full throttle… A thriller that kicks into high gear from the first page to a stunning ending.” –  South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Available Formats:

Print Book | Audiobook | eBook | eAudiobook



HISTORICAL FICTION



A Woman of Intelligence by  Karin Tanabe

woman of intelligenceA Fifth Avenue address, parties at the Plaza, two healthy sons, and the ideal husband: what looks like a perfect life for Katharina Edgeworth is anything but. It’s 1954, and the post-war American dream has become a nightmare.

A born and bred New Yorker, Katharina is the daughter of immigrants, Ivy-League-educated, and speaks four languages. As a single girl in 1940s Manhattan, she is a translator at the newly formed United Nations, devoting her days to her work and the promise of world peace—and her nights to cocktails and the promise of a good time.

Now the wife of a beloved pediatric surgeon and heir to a shipping fortune, Katharina is trapped in a gilded cage, desperate to escape the constraints of domesticity. So when she is approached by the FBI and asked to join their ranks as an informant, Katharina seizes the opportunity. A man from her past has become a high-level Soviet spy, but no one has been able to infiltrate his circle. Enter Katharina, the perfect woman for the job.

Navigating the demands of the FBI and the secrets of the KGB, she becomes a courier, carrying stolen government documents from D.C. to Manhattan. But as those closest to her lose their covers, and their lives, Katharina’s secret soon threatens to ruin her.

Description from Goodreads.

“Taut and thoughtful, A Woman of Intelligence vividly portrays a particular moment in American history while capturing a woman’s timeless struggle to create her own life.” – Shelf Awareness

“A smart thriller with heart… and some simmering sexual tension, too.” – BookRiot

“Layered and engrossing.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

Available Formats:

Print Book | eBook



ROMANCE



Isn’t It Bromantic? by  Lyssa Kay Adams

isn't it bromanticWith his passion for romance novels, it was only a matter of time before Vlad wrote one.

Elena Konnikova has lived her entire adult life in the shadows. As the daughter of a Russian journalist who mysteriously disappeared, she escaped danger the only way she knew how: She married her childhood friend, Vladimir, and moved to the United States, where he is a professional hockey player in Nashville.

Vlad, aka the Russian, thought he could be content with his marriage of convenience. But it’s become too difficult to continue in a one-sided relationship. He joined the Bromance Book Club to learn how to make his wife love him, but all he’s learned is that he deserves more. He’s ready to create his own sweeping romance—both on and off the page.

The bros are unwilling to let Vlad forgo true love—and this time they’re not operating solo. They join forces with Vlad’s neighbors, a group of meddling widows who call themselves the Loners. But just when things finally look promising, Elena’s past life intrudes and their happily ever after is cast into doubt.

Description from Goodreads.

“Readers are sure to fall in love with sensitive Vlad and root for him and Elena. This is an utter delight.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

“The resulting love story is heart-wrenching but with lots of humor. It has plenty to offer for returning fans of the series and new readers alike.” – Library Journal

Available Formats:

eBook



HORROR



The Book of Accidents by  Chuck Wendig

book of accidentsLong ago, Nathan lived in a house in the country with his abusive father—and has never told his family what happened there.

Long ago, Maddie was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she shouldn’t have—and is trying to remember that lost trauma by making haunting sculptures.

Long ago, something sinister, something hungry, walked in the tunnels and the mountains and the coal mines of their hometown in rural Pennsylvania.

Now, Nate and Maddie Graves are married, and they have moved back to their hometown with their son, Oliver.

And now what happened long ago is happening again… and it is happening to Oliver. He meets a strange boy who becomes his best friend, a boy with secrets of his own and a taste for dark magic.

This dark magic puts them at the heart of a battle of good versus evil and a fight for the soul of the family—and perhaps for all of the world. But the Graves family has a secret weapon in this battle: their love for one another.

Description from Goodreads.

“…catnip to horror fans… a prototypical edge-of-your-seat plunge into real terror. A grade-A, weirdly comforting, and familiar stew of domestic drama, slasher horror, and primeval evil.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Chuck Wendig’s The Book of Accidents jitters on the page with a palpable electricity and tension that builds and builds within a story that is both fascinating and unnerving. Do not sleep on this one. I truly think it’s Chuck’s best work yet.” – Every Read Thing

“a bold, impressive novel with fierce intelligence and a generous, thrumming heart; this is the author writing at the height of his powers. It’s intimate and panoramic. It’s humane and magical. It’s a world-hopping, time-jumping ride that packs a deep emotional punch… This one’s essential.” – Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

Available Formats:

Print Book | eBook



NONFICTION



Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine by  Geoff Manaugh Nicola Twilley ★

until proven safeQuarantine is such a simple, profound, and effective idea that it’s almost hard to realize that it is in fact an idea–a concept that needed to be discovered, figured out, refined, and, of course, applied. We are now all too aware of how it is applied, but we know far less about how the idea came to be–and where it may yet go.

Until Proven Safe tracks the idea of quarantine around the globe, through time and space, chasing the story from the lazarettos and quarantine islands of Venice–built before communicable diseases were really understood–to the hallways of the CDC, NASA, and the cutting-edge labs and conference rooms where the future technology of quarantine is being developed. The result is a tour of an idea that could not be more urgent or relevant, a book full of stories, people, and insights that is as compelling as it is definitive.

Description from Goodreads.

“…uncanny in its prescience. It also serves as a good reminder for all of us to refrain from feelings of complacency because as this fascinating book shows again and again, it’s foolish to think this will be our last pandemic… This book — and our current moment — both reveal how the emotional, hysterical even, often ends up driving policy more than the rational.” – San Francisco Chronicle

“[An] engrossing examination of protective isolation… Quarantine provides a buffer and a delay, offering space and time, between the known (healthy folks) and the dangerous (potentially contagious people). Its complicated nature is adeptly explored, including ethical concerns, legal and moral questions, and enforcement challenges… Fascinating reading.” – Booklist

“A riveting and timely look at how humanity has protected itself by isolating segments of its populations… Manaugh and Twilley cull their research into a concise and logical series of recommendations for future public health crises, grounded in a deep appreciation of the human impact of quarantining… The way forward, they write, will require design creativity, legal reforms that ensure ‘that the authorities making… promises will deliver on them,’ and imaginatively thinking about quarantine as an experience that allows agency. This thoughtful study couldn’t arrive at a better moment.” – Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

“Captivating… Manaugh and Twilley meld a global view of a timely subject with vividly detailed accounts… But a larger charm of this smart book lies in their ability to bring potentially dry topics to life… An infectiously appealing overview of efforts to contain the potentially infectious.” – Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

Available Formats:

Print Book (Coming Soon)


The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion by  Eliot Brown Maureen Farrell

cult of weIn 2001, Adam Neumann arrived in New York after five years as a conscript in the Israeli navy. Just over fifteen years later, he had transformed himself into the charismatic CEO of a company worth $47 billion–at least on paper. With his long hair and feel-good mantras, the 6-foot-five Neumann, who grew up in part on a kibbutz, looked the part of a messianic Silicon Valley entrepreneur. The vision he offered was mesmerizing: a radical reimagining of work space for a new generation, with its fluid jobs and lax office culture. He called it WeWork. Though the company was merely subleasing amenity-filled office space to freelancers and small startups, Neumann marketed it like a revolutionary product–and investors swooned.

As billions of funding dollars poured in, Neumann’s ambitions grew limitless. WeWork wasn’t just an office space provider, he boasted. It would build schools, create WeWork cities, even colonize Mars. Could he, Neumann wondered from the ice bath he’d installed in his office, become the first trillionaire or a world leader? In pursuit of its founder’s grandiose vision, the company spent money faster than it could bring it in. From his private jet, sometimes clouded with marijuana smoke, the CEO scoured the globe for more capital. In late 2019, just weeks before WeWork’s highly publicized IPO, a Hail Mary effort to raise cash, everything fell apart. Neumann was ousted from his company–but still was poised to walk away a billionaire.

Calling to mind the recent demise of Theranos and the hubris of the dotcom era bust, WeWork’s extraordinary rise and staggering implosion were fueled by disparate characters in a financial system blind to its risks, from a Japanese billionaire with designs on becoming the Warren Buffet of tech, to leaders at JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs who seemed intoxicated by a Silicon Valley culture where sensible business models lost out to youthful CEOs who promised disruption. Why did some of the biggest names in banking and venture capital buy the hype? And what does the future hold for Silicon Valley unicorns? Wall Street Journal reporters Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell explore these questions in this definitive account of WeWork’s unraveling.

Description from Goodreads.

“A juicy investigation into one of Silicon Valley’s most-hyped fallen unicorns.” – TIME

“Deeply reported and compellingly written.” – Harvard Business Review

“A delicious chronicle of hubris and misjudgment, this will hit the spot for fans of business tales that walk on the wild side.” – Publishers Weekly

Available Formats:

Print Book | eBook


Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story by  Julie K. Brown

perversion of justiceFor many years, billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s penchant for teenage girls was an open secret in the high society of Palm Beach, Florida and Upper East Side, Manhattan. Charged in 2008 with soliciting prostitution from minors, Epstein was treated with unheard of leniency, dictating the terms of his non-prosecution. The media virtually ignored the failures of the criminal justice system, and Epstein’s friends and business partners brushed the allegations aside. But when in 2017 the U.S Attorney who approved Epstein’s plea deal, Alexander Acosta, was chosen by President Trump as Labor Secretary, reporter Julie K. Brown was compelled to ask questions.

Despite her editor’s skepticism that she could add a new dimension to a known story, Brown determined that her goal would be to track down the victims themselves. Poring over thousands of redacted court documents, traveling across the country and chasing down information in difficulty and sometimes dangerous circumstances, Brown tracked down dozens of Epstein’s victims, now young women struggling to reclaim their lives after the trauma and shame they had endured.

Brown’s resulting three-part series in the Miami Herald was one of the most explosive news stories of the decade, revealing how Epstein ran a global sex trafficking pyramid scheme with impunity for years, targeting vulnerable teens, often from fractured homes and then turning them into recruiters. The outrage led to Epstein’s arrest, the disappearance and eventual arrest of his closest accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and the resignation of Acosta. The financier’s mysterious suicide in a New York City jail cell prompted wild speculation about the secrets he took to the grave-and whether his death was intentional or the result of foul play.

Tracking Epstein’s evolution from a college dropout to one of the most successful financiers in the country—whose associates included Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, and Bill Clinton—Perversion of Justice builds on Brown’s original award-winning series, showing the power of truth, the value of local reportage and the tenacity of one woman in the face of the deep-seated corruption of powerful men.

Description from Goodreads.

“[A] warts-and-all retelling of what it took to expose not just Epstein but also a badly broken justice system… gripping… The women’s haunting voices echo off the page; their narratives are devastating.” – New York Times

Available Formats:

Print Book | Large Print Book | Audiobook | eBook | eAudiobook


The Atlas of Disappearing Places: Our Coasts and Oceans in the Climate Crisis by  Christina Conklin Marina Psaros

atlas of disappearing places“The direction in which our planet is headed isn’t a good one, and most of us don’t know how to change it. The bad news is that we will experience great loss. The good news is that we already have what we need to build a better future.” —from the introduction

Our planet is in peril. Seas are rising, oceans are acidifying, ice is melting, coasts are flooding, species are dying, and communities are faltering. Despite these dire circumstances, most of us don’t have a clear sense of how the interconnected crises in our ocean are affecting the climate system, food webs, coastal cities, and biodiversity, and which solutions can help us co-create a better future.

Through a rich combination of place-based storytelling, clear explanations of climate science and policy, and beautifully rendered maps that use a unique ink-on-dried-seaweed technique, The Atlas of Disappearing Places depicts twenty locations across the globe, from Shanghai and Antarctica to Houston and the Cook Islands. The authors describe four climate change impacts—changing chemistry, warming waters, strengthening storms, and rising seas—using the metaphor of the ocean as a body to draw parallels between natural systems and human systems.

Each chapter paints a portrait of an existential threat in a particular place, detailing what will be lost if we do not take bold action now. Weaving together contemporary stories and speculative “future histories” for each place, this work considers both the serious consequences if we continue to pursue business as usual, and what we can do—from government policies to grassroots activism—to write a different, more hopeful story.

A beautiful work of art and an indispensable resource to learn more about the devastating consequences of the climate crisis—as well as possibilities for individual and collective action—The Atlas of Disappearing Places will engage and inspire readers on the most pressing issue of our time.

Description from Goodreads.

“Painted with water-soluble inks on sheets of dried seaweed, the book’s maps are textured, attractive, and informative… Climate change is not just about melting ice caps and starving polar bears, and The Atlas of Disappearing Places brings that reality home.” – Foreword Reviews

“Beautiful maps and hopeful vignettes about the future temper this important book about climate change in our world.” – Library Journal

“A striking and deeply researched work of art and environmental activism.” – BookPage

Available Formats:

Hoopla eBook



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