Award-winning author Deborah Tomkins writes about the twin emergencies of climate breakdown and ecological destruction in her ‘climate fiction’ novels. Here are her top five books that deal with climate grief.
Climate Grief by Shawna Weaver
A great overview and astute analysis by a psychologist of the growing phenomenon of climate grief. I think many people who are concerned about climate change will recognise their own situations.
Clade by James Bradley
A story set over several decades, in which people try to live normal lives against a backdrop of increasingly dramatic climate events, with strong themes of grief and loss. Beginning in the realist tradition, the story becomes increasingly speculative by the end.
The End We Start From by Megan Hunter
A haunting story, told in fragments, of a couple with a newborn who have to evacuate their London home due to flooding. It swiftly becomes the mother and baby’s story, as the father goes missing. Its bewildering intensity mirrors the mother’s experiences.
Read more:
- Climate anxiety: What is it and how can you cope?
- Doomism about climate change is a privilege we can’t afford
Like There’s No Tomorrow by Frances Ward
A narrowboat journey combined with deep reflection from a senior priest in the Church of England. Does God love Earth? And how should the church respond? Lament and “fierce hope”.
