Back to the Garden (Revised to Launch New Series)
Clara Hume's speculative fiction, Back to the Garden, is told from the perspective of a group of "tipping point" survivors-a generation of mountain folks who have experienced the collapse of late-stage capitalism, along with widespread ecosystem degradation due to climate change. It is within the framework of a unique time, when these characters live through two worlds, vastly different from one another, that they tell their tales, a way of documenting their journeys in life.
While the friends and family in this novel struggle to survive, and overcome personal losses and grief, they do so with the strength of character that allows people to gracefully succeed during times of societal failure. They understand that true riches of life come from the great outdoors and from their relationships with each other. They learn to survive and adapt in a climate-changed world. Part "road" novel, part survival tale, and part romance, this literary novel looks into the human psyche as people similar to how we imagine ourselves find hope in the face of disaster.
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A journey that's part standard apocalyptic narrative and part Wizard of Oz.
-Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, Dissent Magazine
With mounting evidence humanity is on course to irreparably damage the planet, how many of us have wondered what life might be like for future generations who stand to face power, food and water shortages and endure extreme weather conditions? Rather than an end-of-the-world implosion or humanity packing up and moving to another planet, Back to the Garden explores the possibility that mankind might just be able to survive on earth in the face of global warming. Hume delivers a realistic story about a group of travellers surviving during a long trip across a continent devastated by Climate Change. Along with a dose of despair true of dystopian type novels this author dishes up a host of engaging characters which makes it difficult to put the book down. Above that she offers the reader a glimmer of hope. Perhaps when all is lost, we can go back to the garden. A well written book definitely worth the read. I loved it.
-Donna Mulvenna, author Wild Roots
What this book tells us is: maybe mankind can survive after all...but at what price! "Back to the Garden" is like going back to square one, the start of civilization. All technological advances are lost, there is no electricity and little fuel left. This is a world of growing scarcities. But is that "garden" mentioned in the book a new, revised garden of Eden? Maybe it is, and that is a comforting thought: that's why this book is a dystopian novel with a smile.
-Claude Forthomme, writer and social scientist
This was a wonderful debut novel. Ms. Hume handles numerous POV characters with great skill and uses them to great advantage; she weaves a tail populated with people we care about, one that keeps the reader engaged from start to end. In between she paints vivid pictures of a world that is unravelling in the face of global warming. I was reminded of Comrac McCarthy's The Road, although Ms. Hume puts the blame for the dystopian future she paints squarely on our shoulders. It is a cautionary tale told well.
-John Atcheson, author of A Being Darkly Wise and writer at Common Dreams and Climate Progress
