A Book A Week

It’s not hard to envision a future where our changing climate irreversibly alters the places we call home. I’ve spent more days in shorts and a T-shirt this winter than in any year I can remember. It's been a stark adjustment from the cooler weather Texas usually sees this time of year. The growing threat of flooding from increasingly severe storms looms large for coastal areas, making the topic of climate change feel all the more urgent.

When Eiren Caffall’s publisher offered me a copy of her latest novel, All the Water in the World, I was immediately intrigued by its fictional exploration of a world succumbing to the perils of climate change. Learning that Caffall was inspired by the stories of curators in Iraq and Leningrad who risked everything to protect their collections during times of war made me even more eager to dive in.

Nonie’s family has devoted their lives to safeguarding the world’s history, even as the world itself teeters on the brink of collapse. Alongside a small group of researchers, they have turned the roof of the American Museum of Natural History into their sanctuary amidst a mostly abandoned New York City. They forage and cultivate food in Central Park, relying on the museum’s exhibits only when absolutely necessary. Yet their survival is about more than just staying alive—it’s about preserving the past. Together, they meticulously document every artifact, etching the history of a lost world into a single handwritten book.

When a catastrophic superstorm breaches the city’s flood walls, Nonie and her family are forced to flee their makeshift haven, taking their precious book of records.  Traveling north along the turbulent Hudson River, they embark on a harrowing journey through a fractured landscape, encountering a patchwork of surviving communities, each adapting to the changed world in innovative and deeply unsettling ways. Despite the uncertainty and danger, Nonie and her family cling to their mission, determined to forge a future that honors the legacy of what has been saved.

All the Water in the World is, at times, a speculative thriller and survival story; at others, a poignant reflection on the fragility of humanity and history; and still, at others, a passionate warning about the perils of inaction. Eiren Caffall works to weave these themes into an original and urgent narrative. 

The story’s young protagonist, Nonie, guides us through this hauntingly altered world. Her innocence allows readers to draw their own conclusions about the events unfolding around her while her raw and honest emotions leap off the page, pulling us deeper into her journey.

The novel, however, isn’t without its flaws. The weight of its themes occasionally causes the pacing to falter, meandering from one set piece to the next. Yet, it delivers a conclusion that feels fitting for this story—even as it leaves the sense that more remains unresolved. 

There are no easy answers here, and Caffall seems content to embrace that uncertainty. Whether readers can also accept this inevitability will likely influence their response to the novel. While it poses compelling ideas and delivers moments of brilliance, it is as challenging and uneven as it is thought-provoking.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2025, 2)