Rebecca Solnit argues that the climate crisis is, in part, a “storytelling crisis,” with a lack of compelling fiction to present paths for action in the face of the looming crisis. Rich, author of one of the best nonfiction books on the history of climate change and the political reaction to it (Losing Earth), has delivered the fictional follow-up we need – subtle yet moving, bizarre yet brilliant. Set in the near future, a rudderless journalist discovers Virginia, an off-grid idealist living in a storage facility. This meeting is the launchpad for an odd-couple heist that presents the evils of Big Data folded into a truly bizarre caper, which gets darker and darker as the tale unfolds.
Cloudthief by Nathaniel Rich, (List Price: $28, MCD, 9780374619794, July 2026)
Reviewed by Doron, Octavia Books in New Orleans, LA