'THE ENVIRONMENTAL NOVEL OF OUR TIMES.' Lemn Sissay, Booker Prize judge

From a critically acclaimed author comes a searing novel about maternal love pushed to the brink by environmental crisis

'Brutal and beautiful in equal measure' (Emily St. John Mandel)

Bea's daughter, Agnes, is slowly wasting away, her lungs ravaged by the smog and pollution of the overpopulated metropolis they call home.

The only alternative is to build a life in the vast expanse of untamed land known as The Wilderness State. No one has been allowed to venture here before. That is all about to change. But as Bea soon discovers, saving her daughter's life might mean losing her in ways she hadn't foreseen.

Passionate and exhilarating, The New Wilderness is the story of a mother's fight to save her daughter in a world she can no longer call her own.

Longlisted for the DUBLIN Literary Award 2022 * A Guardian Best Science Fiction Book of the Year * A 'Best Book of the Year 2020' according to BBC Culture * An Irish Times Best Debut Fiction of 2020

A passionate, tender and terrifying story of a mother's fight to protect her daughter

About the Author

Diane Cook is a novelist and short story writer. Her collection, Man v. Nature (Oneworld, 2015), was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the L.A. Times Book Prize. Her stories have appeared in Harper's, Tin House and Granta, and been anthologised in Best American Short Stories. The New Wilderness is her debut novel. She lives in Brooklyn.

Reviews

'The New Wilderness is a virtuosic debut, brutal and beautiful in equal measure.' Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel

'Soulful, urgent... Supremely well-crafted... What lingers, though, beyond the awesome power of Bea and Agnes as heroines, is pure wonderment at all in this world of ours that is not human.' Observer

'Wonderfully imagined and written, this is a tense future-shock novel that's also a tender exploration of a mother-daughter relationship under extreme pressure... An urgent novel reflective of what is happening in society right now.' Booker Prize judges

'A wildly imaginative and terrifying dystopian story... Touching on humanity and our contempt for nature, this is a timely and compelling novel.' Independent

'This Booker-longlisted novel's driving questions - who will live and who will die? And which kind of leadership will triumph along the way? - remind us, in a compelling fashion, why we read at all: to learn how better to survive.' New Statesman

'A visceral, elemental performance... Dense with believable detail.' The Sunday Times

'Riveting... Bleakly compelling, and leavened by wry, sparkling humour that Cook combines seamlessly with existential dread.' Daily Telegraph

'This gut-wrenching story of survival, danger, power, control and, most importantly, love is one you won't want to put down.' CNN

'This Booker-longlisted novel's driving questions - who will live and who will die? And which kinds of leadership will triumph along the way? - remind us, in a compelling fashion, why we read at all: to learn how better to survive.' New Statesman

'It is the anthropological acuity in Cook's writing that makes it so persuasive... The chief power of The New Wilderness, and what distinguishes it from less successful environmental dystopian fiction, is Cook's talent for world-building.' TLS

'Cook leavens her satire with sly wit and real wisdom, expertly deconstructing the borderline separating human beings and other animals.' Guardian, 'Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books 2020'

'Cook's is a fresh and vivid voice; it's unsurprising the likes of Miranda July and Roxane Gay are fans.' Observer

'Cook has a keen eye for the relentless weigh-ups of parenthood... The tale of a hazardously self-denying lifestyle pursued on health grounds, it has uncanny resonance.' Metro

'Urgent and inventive... This quietly raging novel deserves its place on the Booker longlist. People who switch off when they hear the phrase "climate change" should read it. And so should everyone else.' Irish Times

'As close to experiencing a Picasso as literature can get.' Tea Obreht, author of The Tiger's Wife (on Man V. Nature)

'A big book full of characters and rich in imagination... The only debut novel on the shortlist that never feels like one.' Irish Times

'5 of 5 stars. [A] gripping, fierce, terrifying examination of what people are capable of when they want to survive in both the best and worst ways. Loved this.' Roxane Gay

'A damning piece of horror cli-fi, but it's also a gripping and profound examination of love and sacrifice.' BuzzFeed

'The New Wilderness left me as stunned as a deer in headlights. Gut-wrenching and heart-wrecking, this is a book that demands to be read, and urgently.' Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin

'Propulsive... The New Wilderness is a well-formed and powerful piece of writing.' The Times

Awards
Short-listed for Booker Prize 2020. Long-listed for Aspen Words Literary Prize 2020 and DUBLIN Literary Award 2022.



Book Information
ISBN 9780861540013
Author Diane Cook
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint Oneworld Publications
Publisher Oneworld Publications
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 30mm