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Four Climate
Fiction Novels
by Amy Brady
HOW DO WE MAKE SENSE of a warm-
ing planet when the causes of the warming
are so big, so systemic, they’re difficult to
even think about, let alone fully under-
stand? Where scientific reports fall short in
this regard, novels can help. In the last few
years, writers from around the world have
responded to the impacts of climate change
with beautifully written novels that speak to
our fears, our sorrows, and, importantly, our
hope for the future. Often called “climate
fiction,” or “cli-fi,” these books help give
narrative shape to the problem of global
warming while highlighting how it affects
individual lives. Here are some cli-fi novels
to get you started in the genre.
Rita Indiana
Tentacle
Trans. Achy Obejas
And Other Stories
Written by a Dominican novelist living in
Puerto Rico, Te n t a c l e links climate change
and environmental destruction to the long
history of colonialism in the Caribbean. At
the center of the novel, which is set in an
apocalyptic future, is a transgender char-
acter imbued by a magical sea anemone
with the power to travel through time and
change the course of history—especially the
historical moments that lead most directly
to climate change and the destruction of the
world’s oceans. The pages of this novel brim
with violence, love, and hope that humanity
can learn from our past mistakes so that
we might bring about a more equitable and
sustainable future.
Berit Ellingsen
Not Dark YetTwo Dollar RadioAt the heart of this cli-fi novel by Norwe-
gian writer Berit Ellingsen is a love story.
After having an affair, the protagonist, Bran-
don, leaves his boyfriend for what he hopes
will be a restorative life in the mountains.
There he meets a group of farmers who are
harnessing the planet’s increasing tempera-
tures to produce more food, an experiment
that they hope will combat worldwide food
shortages. Fascinated by their methods,
Brandon lends a hand. But soon he learns
that despite their optimism, neither he nor
the earth will ever be the same.Mireille Juchau
The World Without UsBloomsburyThis is Sydney-based writer Mireille
Juchau’s third book, and perhaps her best.
The winner of the 2016 Victorian Premier’s
Literary Award for Fiction, the novel stars
the Müller family. There’s Tess, a girl who
suddenly stops speaking; her father, Stefan,
a beekeeper whose bees keep disappearing;
and her mother, Evangaline, who was raised
in a mountain commune destroyed by fire.
The family is forced to confront secrets
from the past when human remains are
found on their farm. Meanwhile, the farm’s
nearby forests and lakes are being destroyedby industry. Tess watches as her family
and the landscape around them undergo
dramatic changes that will leave them all
forever altered.Omar El Akkad
American WarKnopfAmerica is in the throes of its Second Civil
War in this harrowing but beautifully writ-
ten novel by Omar El Akkad, a Canadian
writer born in Egypt and raised in Qatar.
The novel is set in the late twenty-first cen-
tury in a world ravaged by climate change.
Its protagonist, Sarat, is only six years old
when the war breaks out. After her father is
killed in a suicide bombing, she and the rest
of her family are forced into a refugee camp.
Her worldview is wrought by the bloodshed
and poverty surrounding her, and eventu-
ally she commits acts of violence that shape
her own life as well as generations to come.
American War is a heartbreaking novel
that makes clear the connections between
climate change and conflict, and how the
world’s most vulnerable communities, even
those in the relatively wealthy United States,
are impacted hardest.Amy Brady (@ingredient_x ) is editorial
director of the Chicago Review of Books and
deputy publisher of Guernica Magazine. Her
writing has appeared in Oprah, the Village
Voice, Pacific Standard, the New Republic,
McSweeney’s, and elsewhere.8 W LT SUMMER 2019