Birnam Wood - Eleanor Catton

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries comes a psychological thriller that ingeniously reconsiders Macbeth, in which an unlikely arrangement between an idealistic group of environmental activists and an American billionaire ignites a series of events with devastating consequences. A gripping meditation on pride, ambition, and rapacious greed.

Birnam Wood is on the move . . . But who's watching?

Birnam Wood is a gardening club. It's a utopian society. It's an "undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic gathering of friends." It's an activist group that plants small batches of crops wherever no one will notice--on the sides of roads, forgotten parks, neglected backyards. For years, Birnam Wood has been working toward "breaking good"--finding a balance between resources, time, and the fruits of their labour, not just for their survival, but to prove a sustainable alternative to the earth-killing paradigm of capitalism. Roadside guerilla gardens haven't been enough, but then Mira Bunting stumbles on an answer.

A landslide has closed New Zealand's Korowai Pass, completely cutting off the remote town of Thorndike. Natural disaster has created an opportunity: a sizable farm seemingly abandoned. Only Mira is not the only one interested in this spot. Robert Lemoine, the enigmatic American billionaire, has snatched it up to build his end-times bunker--or so he tells Mira when he catches her on the property. Still, he's intrigued by her and the collective. It's no harm to him if they work the land. He admires their entrepreneurial spirit. But can they trust him? And, as their ideals are tested, can they trust each other?

Birnam Wood is a kaleidoscopic take on Macbeth where any character could take the title role. A brilliantly constructed consideration of intentions, actions, consequences, and the impossible promise of certainty, it is an unflinching examination of the human impulse to ensure our own survival.

432 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 2023

649g