Book & podcast collection

Birnam Wood: A Novel

byEleanor Catton

Eleanor Catton's literary thriller follows an unauthorized gardening collective that cultivates unused land in contemporary New Zealand. When Birnam Wood encounters an enigmatic American billionaire preparing a remote property, idealism collides with money, secrecy, surveillance, and environmental ambition. Members disagree over compromise and opportunity while each side conceals dangerous intentions. Catton uses shifting perspectives and mounting suspense to explore activism, capitalism, technology, class, and moral self-deception. The novel asks whether people can work with power without being absorbed by it—and how easily righteous goals become cover for appetite and control.

Publisher

Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Publication date

2023

Format

Print edition

Pages

—

ISBN

9780374110338