Earth 7

Two women, one raised in near solitude in a research pod in the depths of the ocean and one a luxury-resort bartender who may or may not be a robot, fall in love, cross deserts, gaze at the stars - and try not only to hold onto one another but together, possibly, salvage some trace of planet Earth.

Heartbreaking, mind-expanding, soaring with beauty, Earth 7 is at once a love letter to the world and a portrait of its slow disappearance. It's about love and grief, microbiology and astrophysics, robots and planet Mars, and humanity in all its greatness, absurdity and distress. Welding the deeply human to the thrillingly strange, fizzing with intelligence and profoundly moving, it is the novel we need right now, and for all times.

"What a remarkable book! Having recently tried and failed to write about climate change in Earth's far future myself, I know how hard a task Unferth has set for herself. Yet her story enfolds the reader like a dream-so much beauty, so much wisdom, such feats of imagination. I am in awe." - Karen Joy Fowler

"Earth 7 is about love—between two people, yes, but also the broader, more universal love their work entails. After all, preservation of what was and hope for what will be are both acts of immense care for the world." - Ilana Masad, NPR

"Unferth shines in her ability to craft relatable characters in extraordinary circumstances. . . . Earth 7 explores deep ontological questions about the nature of life. This is profound." - Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Unferth's prodigious worldbuilding unfolds magically. . . . Profound, funny, alarming, and imbued with love and sorrow for our lost world. . . . [A] masterpiece of climate fiction." - Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Unferth follows her madcap present-day econovel, Barn 8, with a crystalline, poetic, witty, and haunting post-depopulation tale of loss, adaptation, unexpected beauty, and surpassing love. Every moment is enrapturing, every twist heart-seizing in this keenly imagined, ravishing, and profound celebration of life in extremis." - Donna Seaman, Booklist, starred review

"Earth 7 is an elegy to the world we have now, already disappearing, and at the same time, it's a message in a bottle, an offering of hope for some far-off future. Intimate and wistful and hypnotic, full of rich detail and beautiful writing." - Charles Yu

"With humor and unmatched imagination, Deb Olin Unferth writes about humanity in all its facets—our destructiveness and our failures, but our capacity for love, too (however imperfect). Exhilarating and original." - Rachel Khong

"Earth 7 has knocked me out of kilter in all sorts of strange and haunting and wonderful ways. A work of desperate and loving imagination that follows its own impulsive logic and treads where most of us fear to go. Terrifying and life-affirming all at the same dizzying time. Throw yourself into Deb Olin Unferth's world; you won't regret it" - Jon McGregor

"Earth 7 is an epic sci-fi masterpiece and a love letter to the totally lush, and shockingly diverse, life-forms of our planet. I adore this book. Everyone who lives on planet Earth should read it." - Rita Bullwinkel

"Is it a love story? A dystopian novel oddly suffused with brightness, tenderness, and philosophy? Is it sci-fi or realism? It's all of these things, and it's like no other book you've ever read, by a writer like no other." - Elizabeth McCracken

"I'm a Deb Olin Unferth stan forever—she is the master of the exacting and luminous. Earth 7 is the friend you want after the end of the world. It will reinvigorate your love for our planet." - Marie-Helene Bertino

"Deb Olin Unferth is one of my favourite writers, and Earth 7 confirms her talent for being one of the best storytellers working today. It is a brilliant feast of wisdom and imagination, virtuosic and urgent, full of humour and love. Don't miss this beautiful, strange novel!" - Brandon Hobson

"An electric, hilarious, and harrowing story of fractured technological identities and interdimensional exile in a shattered future. With her signature absurd genius, Deb Olin Unferth has created a shocking and moving speculation that I suspect breaks new ground in climate fiction." - Jessica Anthony