Author:Bryan and Mary Talbot
A stunning new graphic novel and rallying cry to protect the planet, from the Costa-award-winning authors of Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes
Set against the backdrop of disastrous flooding in the North of England, Rain dramatically chronicles the developing relationship between two young women, one of whom is a committed environmental campaigner. Their wild Brontë moorland is being criminally mismanaged. Birds and animals are being slaughtered. Across the country, crops are being systematically poisoned, even the soil itself. Rain centres on one relatively small example of moorland ownership by an elite group that impacts catastrophically on the unlanded majority living in the valley below. But the campaigners know that ‘a million other valleys need saving’. They need saving not just for the sake of their human inhabitants, but for the insects and plants, birds and mammals and all the other inhabitants large and small that we share this planet with – our non-human fellow earthlings.
Rain is the first contemporary graphic novel from Bryan and Mary Talbot, dealing with the here and now of environmental degradation that threatens us all. The story follows the everyday experiences of ordinary people, while engaging with pollution, climate change, moorland mismanagement and the disruption, misery and loss that these things bring. The characters are fictitious; what's happening around them is shockingly real.
An inspiring cry of protest…[by] two of Britain’s finest graphic novelists.
—— James Smart , GuardianMoving and authentic… among Bryan Talbot’s very best – this is graphic art you can lose yourself in… worth recommending ten times over.
—— BookmunchUnfolds the dazzling array of climates and ecosystems that have emerged in Europe, along with the resultant species that have evolved in and disseminated across it . . . Flannery takes great pleasure in opening up this world of surprises, describing it with verve and wit
—— Robert Mayhew , Literary ReviewFlannery weaves geology and biology into the history of developing societies and the emergence of conflict, both personal and military
—— Tom Cameron , Times Higher Education SupplementBold and brilliant evocation of Europes forever vanished yet paradoxically present as engrams beneath our streets, in every landscape feature
—— Derek Turner , Irish TimesThrillingly captured . . . a bold and rich panorama of Europe's ecological history . . . Flannery's superb study shows that Europe is a land of "exceptional dynamism" and resilience
—— The Guardian[Cocker] has a dream-like poetic edge, a touch of surreality that tips over into gentle humour… Cocker’s gift is that he can make you look – as he does – at blackbirds in a new way, or, shifting to the micro-scale, at ants bustling about in the cracks between paving slabs.
—— Brian Morton , Times Literary SupplementA master of short-form writing… Cocker combines forensic observation of minutiae with grander universal truths… Exquisite essential reading.
—— Ben Hoare , BBC WildlifeWonderful.
—— The Simple ThingsMark Cocker is one of the many modern nature writers who I admire... and his latest book, A Claxton Diary, is as well written as all his others.
—— Paul Cheney , Paul Cheney's Books of the YearFoer's new book urges the reader gently towards incremental adjustments - the idea being that if enough of us observe them, difference can be made
—— MonocleEnough to induce an honest-to-God panic attack ... The margins of my review copy of the book are scrawled with expressions of terror and despair, declining in articulacy as the pages proceed, until it's all just cartoon sad faces and swear words ... To read The Uninhabitable Earth is to understand the collapse of the distinction between alarmism and plain realism
—— Mark O'Connell , The GuardianThere is much to learn from this book. From media and scientific reports of the past decade, Wallace-Wells sifts key predictions and conveys them in vivid prose.
—— David George Haskell , The ObserverBrilliant ... At the heart of Wallace-Wells's book is a remorseless, near-unbearable account of what we are doing to our planet
—— The New York TimesNot since Bill McKibben's "The End of Nature" 30 years ago have we been told what climate change will mean in such vivid terms.
—— Fred Pearce , The Washington PostEveryone should stop what they're doing and read The Uninhabitable Earth by @dwallacewells. This is our future if we don't act now.
—— Johann Hari , TwitterWake up! Get educated - The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace Wells is a great place to start.
—— Paris Lees , VogueA book that's by turns alarming, terrifying and just downright bleak . . . a sustained piece of informed polemic.
—— The Evening StandardA very accessible and compelling read . . . a much more nuanced and a much more hopeful vision than you might expect.
—— The Irish TimesI think everyone should probably right now read David Wallace-Wells's The Uninhabitable Earth, which tells the grim story with as much optimism as possible, and which gives all the facts.
—— Daniel Swift , The Spectator, Books of the YearWell-written, captivating, occasionally wry and utterly petrifying
—— i NewsIn his gripping new book ... Wallace-Wells shocks us out of complacency'
—— ProspectIf you read just one work of non-fiction this year, it should probably be [this] . . . What this book forces you to face is more important than any other subject you could be informing yourself about.
—— David Sexton , The Evening StandardExceptionally well researched and written. . . . This short, concise book pulls no punches.
—— Mitch Friedman, executive director, Conservation NorthwestYes, this book will scare you, but it will also prompt you to take action to ensure the damage we as humans have done to the planet is stopped.
—— Stylist, ‘Your guide to 2019’s best non-fiction books’Most of us known the gist, if not the details, of the climate change crisis. And yet it is almost impossible to sustain strong feelings about it. David Wallace-Wells has now provided the details, and with writing that is not only clear and forceful, but often imaginative and even funny, he has found a way to make the information deeply felt. This is a profound book, which simultaneously makes me terrified and hopeful about the future, full of regret and new will.
—— Jonathan Safran FoerHarrowing.
—— Jonathan Franzen , The New YorkerThe Uninhabitable Earth hits you like a comet, with an overflow of insanely lyrical prose about our pending armageddon.
—— Andrew SolomonJust finished The Uninhabitable Earth by @dwallacewells. Everyone, everywhere, should read it. Can't remember the last time a book had such an impact on me.
—— Rutger Bregman, author of 'Utopia for Realists' , TwitterOn [Alexandra] Ocasio-Cortez's office bookshelf, near a picture of her late father and a photo of her with a local Girl Scout troop, two books nestle together in uneasy union. One is the Federalist papers. The other is The Uninhabitable Earth.
—— Time magazine profile on Alexandra Ocasio-CortezIf there are people around to write history books in the future, they will look back at the @ExtinctionR protestors and think they were the sanest people of our time. Read The Uninhabitable Earth by @dwallacewells if you don't know why.
—— Johann Hari, TwitterIf we don't want our grandchildren to curse us, we had better read this book.
—— Timothy Snyder, author of 'On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twenty-first Century'David Wallace-Wells argues that the impacts of climate change will much graver than most people realize, and he's right. The Uninhabitable Earth is a timely and provocative work.
—— Elizabeth Kolbert, author of 'The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History'Trigger warning: when scientists conclude that yesterday's worst-case scenario for global warming is probably unwarranted optimism, it's time to ask Scotty to beam you up. At least that was my reaction upon finishing Wallace-Wells' brilliant and unsparing analysis of a nightmare that is no longer a distant future but our chaotic, burning present.
—— Mike DavisA lucid and thorough description of our unprecedented crisis, and of the mechanisms of denial with which we seek to avoid its fullest recognition.
—— William GibsonBrilliant at the futility of human action.
—— Sarah CromptonA masterpiece of operatic proportions … What Powers means to explore is a sense of how we become who we are, individually and collectively, and our responsibility to the planet and to ourselves … A magnificent achievement: a novel that is, by turns, both optimistic and fatalistic, idealistic without being naïve.
—— KirkusHis masterpiece.
—— HeraldYou will careen through this book. The prose is driven. You don’t really get to draw breath … The writing is steel-edged, laser-sharp when Richard Powers wants it to be. When he sets out to nail meaning, it’s done. There are sentences you return to and wonder at.
—— Irish TimesThis walk through the woods via words is a passionate paean to the natural world that prompts us to appreciate afresh our place on the planet.
—— i news[I]t’s huge, it’s exciting, it’s wondrous … This really deserves to be read.
—— BookmunchThe Overstory is a book you learn from.
—— SpectatorDazzlingly written… Among the best novels I’ve read this decade… Despite its deep-time perspective, it could hardly be more of-the-moment
—— Robert Macfarlane , GuardianA beautiful novel about humans reconnecting with nature in a fascinatingly, inventive world with colourful, rich characters, it will rekindle your love for nature
—— Asian VoiceAn intriguing, powerful book
—— Maddy Prior , Daily ExpressAbsolutely blown away by this epic, heartbreaking novel about us and trees
—— Emma DonoghueThis extraordinary novel transformed my view of nature. Never again will I pass great tree without offering a quiet but heartfelt incantation of thanks, gratitude and wonder
—— Hannah Rothschild , Waitrose WeekendA sweeping novel that skilfully intertwines many different stories of trees and people to create a paean to the hidden power and vital importance of the natural world
—— Country & Town HouseAbsorbing, thought-provoking and more than enough incentive to embrace your inner tree-hugger
—— Culture WhisperThe Overstory is filled with character and incident enough to engage anybody, but it's also filled with philosophy, science, poetry, and colour. It's a celebration of the world and humanity, but also tells of our coming doom. Perhaps above all it's a eulogy to trees. Eulogy is the right word because the novel celebrates the life, the beauty and wisdom of trees-but also their death. The novel also casts a cold-but loving-eye on humanity
—— Richard Smith , British Medical JournalThe Overstory has the mix of science and fiction that I so love; it widens my understanding and respect for the creatures who share this planet
—— KAREN JOY FOWLERStunning... It's been one of those rare books that has had a profound effect on me, and which has changed my perspective on life
—— Paul Ready , Yorkshire PostMind-boggling and visionary. The multi-stranded novel is a masterpiece in which science and poetry are deeply intertwined
—— Andrea Wulf, author of MAGNIFICENT REBELS , GuardianA compelling read is that is near impossible to put down
—— Adoption TodayThe Overstory is a prescient novel that urges us to take responsibility for our actions
—— Far OutA masterpiece of storytelling at its very best. Powers weaves together science, poetry, nature and humanity so beautifully that it makes my heart ache and my mind fly
—— Andrea Wulf , GuardianA wild and expansive novel, knitting together a glorious and diverse cast of characters, some of them human, some of them trees. I defy you not to be moved, and then angered about what we are doing to our planet and these glorious sentinels rooted upon it
—— Greg Wise , WeekMy novel of the year was Richard Powers' masterpiece, The Overstory... it's a magnificent read
—— Mark Connors , Northern Soul, *Books of the Year*The Overstory by Richard Powers is likely the most beautiful book ever written about people and trees
—— Andy Hunter , Spectator