First published 2024
Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu straps on one of the world's first aqualungs and sinks to the bottom of a Montreal swimming pool. Her path will cross with three others: Ina Aroita, who moves between Pacific naval bases with only art as her constant companion; Rafi Young, who loses himself in literature; and Todd Keane, whose work produces a major AI breakthrough. The two boys meet as opposites at an elite Chicago high school, bonding over an ancient board game. All four eventually arrive on Makatea, a small atoll in French Polynesia scarred by its history as a phosphorus mining site that once helped feed the world. Now Makatea faces a choice that will determine its future. Developers want to use the island as a launching point for floating, autonomous cities that will drift across the open ocean. The residents must vote: approve this bold experiment in seasteading or reject it entirely. As the decision approaches, these four lives intersect in ways that reveal how technology, environment, and human connection shape our attempts to find new ways of living on a planet we continue to transform.
Genres: science-fiction, adventure, contemporary, environment, 21st-century, artificial-intelligence
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Montreal, Chicago, Makatea, French Polynesia
Period: 21st Century
389 pages · Kindle Edition · W. W. Norton & Company