by Eiren Caffall
St. Martin's Press, 2025. 294 pages. Fiction
In the years after the glaciers melt, Nonie, her older sister, her parents, and their researcher friends have stayed behind in an almost deserted New York City, creating a settlement on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History (Amen for short). The rule: Take from the exhibits only in dire need. They hunt and grow their food in Central Park as they work to save the collections of human history and science. When a superstorm breaches the city's flood walls, Nonie and her family must escape north on the Hudson. They carry with them a book that holds their records of the lost collections. Racing on the swollen river towards what may be safety, they encounter communities that have adapted in very different and sometimes frightening ways to the new reality, but they remain determined to build a new world that honors what they’ve saved.
This book has a very unique tone, mixing lyrical, meditative writing with the urgency of a survival novel. The story is told in flashbacks, covering both the family's early days of making Amen a home, and following them as they search for a new home once Amen is destroyed. As the narrator, Nonie starts the story as a young girl with a childlike sense of wonder, but she spends most of it as a teenager coming to grips with the dualities of reality. While the overarching story is dark, the themes of the importance of both found family and the value of knowledge help brighten the message. This is a book that will stick with me for a long time.
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MB