The Book of Rain

Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER FINALIST, ATWOOD GIBSON WRITERS' TRUST FICTION PRIZE "Audaciously imaginative. . . . I wish more books surprised me as much as this one did."—Omar El Akkad, author of What Strange Paradise "Wondrous."—Eden Robinson, author of the Trickster trilogy A groundbreaking, deeply affecting work of environmental literary suspense for fans of Cloud Atlas, The Overstory, and Greenwood. The northern mining town of River Meadows is one of three hotspots in the world producing ghost ore, a new source of energy linked with slippages of time and space that gradually render the area uninhabitable. After the town is evacuated, the whole region is cordoned off, the new no-go zone wryly nicknamed "the Park." Three intertwined stories flow from that disaster. Years after Alex Hewitt and his family were forced to leave, Alex returns to River Meadows to search for his sister, Amery, who has disappeared while rescuing animals trapped in the restricted zone. Claire Foley, a young woman from River Meadows who now traffics in endangered wildlife, arrives in an island nation under threat of environmental catastrophe to retrieve her greatest prize yet, only to find herself facing a life-altering choice. And, finally, in a future as distant as myth, a flock of birds sets out on a dangerous journey to prevent the extinction of their ancient enemy, humanity. As sweeping in scope as a world of its own, The Book of Rain is a novel of epic reach, beautifully multi-layered, haunting and profound.