I enjoyed this well written book which spans three generations of a family forced to move south as the climate changes. It's interesting given it's optimism - no wars, no famine and a benevolent government. The story is a love story. I'd recommend it.

Thrilling story, great plot and characters that keep you guessing right til the end. Great for fans of this genre. Really enjoyable.

This was a languid, wordy book that took me quite a while to get into. For the first third of it, I wasn't sure that it was the book for me, it was full of prose (bordering on the purple, in some cases) and I was wondering what it was all about.

And then, it hit its stride and I was glad that I persevered.

Yes, this book is about the effects of global warming on Australia (and as an Australian who has lived in many different parts of it, I could visualise the settings quite well), but that was just a tiny part of it. It was about Finch and April's relationships; with each other, with their family and also April's first husband. It was quite poignant in parts and I found myself getting emotionally involved.

If you want a straight, end-of-the-world kind of book, this isn't it. It is sobering to realise that the author's vision of Australia in the nearish future could well end up being true, unfortunately. It will be interesting to see what happens with it all.

I gave it 3 stars because it was a pretty good book, but not a great one, at least, not for me. I found it hard work to continue reading it, but I think it was because it was a different kind of book than what I thought it was.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster.

Average sea levels have risen around 23 centimetres since 1880 and that rate is accelerating, with another 3.2mm of rise each year in 2019. What if that rate continues to accelerate as the polar ice caps melt and the water heats up? Most of the eastern seaboard of Australia would be underwater, drowning Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

By 2221 most Australians might have moved to Hobart in southern Tasmania to escape the sea rise and ever-increasing temperatures.

This is the world Craig Ensor imagines in his new novel, The Warming.

The Warming is an intriguingly positive rendering of the future death of our planet. Told through the lens of a life-long love story, it shows that perhaps descending into war and mayhem amid environmental chaos is not necessarily our destiny.

This is a very different kind of climate fiction. It depicts a world where every country welcomes climate refugees and we've created artistic and academic enclaves towards the north and south poles. I have to say, though, I did wonder a little what our future descendants might have done with all the poor people and the football nuts when they formed these intellectual paradises.

In an isolated coastal town south of Sydney, young Finch Taylor is captivated by the mysterious beauty April Speare and her pianist husband William when they move into a nearby beach house with a piano and a tragic secret. Finch soon begins a lifelong love affair with music, and with April. But as he and April follow the great migration south to Tasmania, and eventually to a warming Antarctica, they must decide whether to bring children into a world without a future.

In 2221 the world is dying. Scientists have accepted it's only a matter of a few generations until the earth will be unfit for human life. Many people have stopped having children; others have children as a protest of hope. But mostly, they bide their time. There is nothing to be done except move further south. As Finch Taylor muses:

"By the time I arrived at the University of Tasmania, over two hundred years after the first scientific acknowledgement of the warming, the universities had accepted the fact that there would be no stay or reversal. There was no technological solution. The warming had a momentum which no amount of political change or technological advancement could stop. The solution was simple: to move. As we had done for thousands and thousands of years. Move from land to land. Southwards. Or northwards, for those on the other side of the equator. Two choices."

The technological advancements in The Warming also fascinating. Self-driving cars, of course, but also new ways to mark university students. For piano students, grades are based on the player's ability to emotionally impact the listeners. Technology measures the level and type of emotion felt by each individual listener.

The Warming is a story that starts small and slowly creeps outwards until you can see the whole picture stretching back through time. For many chapters it's simply the story of a 15-year-old boy with a major crush on a married 22-year-old woman, who also happens to be the only female for miles around.

It moves beyond this as both Finch and April age and grow towards each other. But in essence, The Warming remains throughout a love story at the end of the world.

The Warming tells a very personal narrative of global warming, and made me contemplate how rising temperatures and sea levels could affect my life, relationships, and family. The setting also adds a sense of realism to those from east coast of Australia, I was able to picture the places I know well and the effects global warming may have on those regions.
At times, some of the language is overly descriptive, however the story keeps you engaged enough for it to not be too distracting.