I work in fisheries and seafood policy and I’ve been a recreational athlete for many years. In both my professional and personal spheres, I talk a lot about healthy, sustainably-sourced foods and the importance of micronutrients. Still, Sharman Apt Russell shows me that I’ve never understood malnutrition and I’ve clearly never understood anything about how to cure it. The intersectional solutions, which Russell unfolds with a master storyteller’s skill, is definitely within our grasp and is so much more than just getting food to hungry people.

In the first chapters, Russell immediately bonds the reader to the problem of global childhood malnutrition. We are all parents to the future and we all have something to be gained by finding a solution. However, this book showcases with easy clarity that solving the problem is not as simple as wealthier countries needing to gift more food or that poorer countries just need to grow more corn/maize. Similarly, Russell methodically educates the reader through accessible stories of the scientific curiosity that led to the significant discoveries about the human body and behaviors that have brought us so close to solving childhood malnutrition.

Russell never leaves the reader without hope. This is NOT a book to depress the reader with “this is a problem and you should feel ashamed.” Instead, Russell leads us through the history of human compassion and learning to bring the end of childhood malnutrition. When I started reading this book, I was sure this wasn’t going to be the kind of book I could read before bed because from the position of my privilege, the topic of hungry children is something for daytime hours. It’s upsetting. I was concerned for what images my sleeping mind might concoct. After a few chapters, I found that my worries had no foundation. I devoured chapters in this book at all hours of the day. The topic IS a sad one, but Russell’s written pace and unfolding story contribute to the tone of reasoned hope.

Russell seamlessly connected how improving the health of our planet is also an important consideration for solving childhood malnutrition, and hunger in general. Dexterously, she talked about the health of the planet’s skin—the soil—and how improving soil with low or no tillage and smart crops help farmers, consumers, and us all. As an environmental professional, I appreciate that Russell didn’t write vaguely about the influence of climate change and subsequent droughts, floods and less nutritious crops on more vulnerable populations.

Within Our Grasp is an immensely satisfying book. Sharman Apt Russell deftly weaves together a subtle, interwoven narration depicting the lasting negative impacts of colonialism on the biodiversity of food crops (and thus accessible, varied nutrition) and wildlife with the positive promises that can come from public-private partnerships, stakeholder-led and culturally-appropriate solutions, and the power of ingenuity and the markets. While there are numerous male heroes in Russell’s book, in many ways, I found this book to be a hopeful story of what happens when women are listened to, partnered with, and are ultimately empowered to care for themselves and their families.