The ministry for the future

by Kim Stanley Robinson

First published 2021

Mary Murphy runs the Ministry for the Future, a new United Nations organization tasked with defending future generations from climate catastrophe. Based in Zurich, she watches helplessly as a deadly heat wave kills twenty million people in India. The disaster sparks global unrest and desperate measures. Eco-terrorists target airlines and wealthy elites. Central banks experiment with carbon currencies. Refugee boats cross dangerous waters while glaciers melt and cities flood. Mary struggles to coordinate international responses as governments resist change and corporations protect profits. She works with climate refugees, rogue economists, and radical activists who believe violence serves the greater good. The ministry faces an impossible task: convincing the present world to sacrifice for people not yet born. Mary discovers that saving the future requires transforming how humans think about time, money, and survival itself.

Genres: 21st-century, environmental-science, political-thriller, climate-change, activism, contemporary-romance

Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: against-the-odds, found-family

Setting: Zurich, India

Period: 21st Century

563 pages · Paperback · HACHETTE INTL

Content warnings: death, violence

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