This is an apocalyptic story of the world ending with disease and the sea levels rising. It is told from 13 year old Nonie who doesn’t remember much from her life before.The book starts off with a group of survivors living at AMEN ( American Museum of Natural History). After a super hurricane hits and the museum floods, they start their journey north to find their mother’s farm that she always told stories about. Bixie is the older sister who remembers more from their life before and is afraid of the water but they must venture on the water in a canoe. The story talks of learning to trust and have hope.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc copy.

I read this book leading up to and in the days following the election. It wasn't necessarily the best book to lift my spirits (at first), but it served as a welcome distraction. I was hooked at the comparison to Station Eleven, but All the Water in the World truly stands on its own.

As a New Yorker, the terrifying climate disaster illustrated in the novel was made more palatable by the familiar neighborhoods and monuments. I loved placing myself at Amen, and moving into the Upper West Side, Cloisters, and north to the Hudson Valley. While it made the plot all the more realistic and scary, it was comfortable to know exactly where the characters were and what was ahead of them.

For all of the tragedy that fell upon the protagonists, it was reassuring to read how willing (most) others were to help, whether it be with water, food, medicine, or community. I was all the more thankful that the characters reached the happiest ending achievable, all things considered.

I would certainly recommend this novel to any sci-fi, fiction, or history fans. It has something for everyone.

This book is such a page turner!! It has a unique plot line that pulls you in right away and doesn't let you go. I'm really hoping there is a sequel because I'm not done having these characters in my life. I will give one warning though...don't start this book if you have something else that needs to be done within the next few days because you won't be able to put it down. I

Caffall's 11 years of work are poured into the triumph that is All the Water in the World. Perfect for fans of St. John Mandel's Station Eleven, Caffall's tale takes us to a post-apocalyptical New York City devastated by climate change. Following a "hypercane" and the destruction of their shelter on top of the American Museum of Natural History, two sisters make their way north in search of a safe haven.

I must say that Caffall's storytelling is lyrical: her vivid descriptions of the once spectacular city are evocative and powerful. Even writing this, it is 60+ degrees in November, and I cannot stop thinking about the drowned world in this novel.

That being said, the narrative itself falters in its pacing and structure. I am always a fan of alternating timelines - with those here being "present" day and flashbacks to the sisters' childhood - but in this story it felt slow and repetitive. This may have been deliberate, however, and readers that prefer a slower-paced novel will enjoy this one. For some, though, the lack of a compelling plot will detract from the emotional impact that is Caffall's goal.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was intrigued by this novel because of the comparison to The Mixed Up Files, and it scratched that itch a little but had much more to say about the state of the world and what may come. I loved the setting and the author does a great job with the world building did this near future.

In a near future world, Nonie, her sister Bex, and a handful of others are trying to survive a world covered in water. Having settled in at the American Museum of Natural History, they’re doing okay until a superstorm breaches the city’s flood walls and they have to leave, searching for dry land, searching for a place they can continue to live.

I always love a dystopian, climate fiction novel but this one really got under my skin for some reason. I felt like this wasn’t as far off as I’d like to believe it might be. And so for much of it I felt nervous, as if I was getting a glimpse into my future - one that I am terrified of.

This is a slow moving novel as we follow Nonie and her family around New York City, into Hudson, and beyond. They encounter people who mean them harm, struggle to keep the water out of their lungs, and must fight to stay alive in the most dire of circumstances. This book reminded me a lot of THE LIGHT PIRATE in that it’s dark, depressing, and has a very slight magical element to it.

There are a couple of things that I think readers should be aware of - first is that this story is told through the eyes of a 13 year old girl, and the writing comes across that away. I had a little trouble with it at the beginning but then felt more comfortable with it. Second, the book jumps back and forth in time a bit and there were some parts where I wasn’t quite sure where we were for a few minutes. Lastly, because this book is slower, I did find my attention waning sometimes but in the end, I’m really glad that I stuck with it.

I thought this was a timely end of the world novel as the story involves the sea reclaiming the land. The story begins with a bunch of scientists and their families living on the roof on the Museum of Natural History in NYC as the water has reclaimed most of the land and there are dangerous bands of "lost" refugees as well as vicious animals to contend with outside. As the strive for some semblance of normalcy, a huge storm floods out museum and the 4 survivors, 2 men and 2 young sisters, head out on a canoe from an Indigenous peoples exhibit in the hope of reaching a family farm in upstate NY. The face many perils on the trip from sickness to the cruelty of man to man. This was an exciting book that you read hoping for the best but expecting the worst as they make their way to what they hope is a new life.

I really liked this book. I appreciated that it was told through the eyes of a young girl. The fear of a child is so much more intense than an adult. I felt so tense when reading through the storms.
I've read in other articles and books that one day, New York will be engulfed by the ocean. This book gave a birds-eye view to what that could potentially look like.
I was invested in these characters.

There were so many lovely turns of phrase in this book. Despite being set in a dystopian world, there was little violence. Rather, it was the understandably confused, sometimes disjointed, musings of a young teenage girl. Born after the world has been covered by the water of melting ice caps, she struggles to make sense of the world.
Because she, Nonie, is only thirteen, there is something of a young adult novel about this book. It kept it from being too violent, yes, but also from being more nuanced or complex. There were no other viewpoints. So many questions weren't answered.
I think Caffall painted a thoughtful portrait of a world that has all but dissolved in the rising sea waters. I would recommend it.

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Climate Change Fiction, Natural Disaster Book, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Post-Apocalyptic, Survival , Dystopian
Representation: Multiple races

ALL THE WATER IN THE WORLD reminds me of an old post-apocalyptic novel, Lucifer's Hammer from the 70s, because this book shows us immediate and more long-term effects from natural disaster and human nature to divide and "other" people. This novel ends on a more hopeful note.

Themes:
What it means to be human
Coming-of-age
Survival
Family
Love

If you enjoy these big "what if" questions in books, this is the one for you.

Happy reading!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for gifting me an advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book takes place after climate change has and is ravaging the world. Our protagonist, Nonie, lives with her father and sister on the roof and in the top levels of the American Museum of Natural History, along with different scientists and people who have made their way to the shelter. Storms have decimated much of New York City, but floodgates do their best to keep the world at bay - until the big storm comes and Nonie and her family are forced to leave. We follow them as they try to find somewhere else to go, and it's action-packed, switching back and forth between their life at the museum and their journey to a new home. The narrative moves quickly, but Caffall manages to anchor us in quiet, contemplative moments and interactions that hit with a gut punch.

I was initially apprehensive about reading this book because I'm not really in the mood for doom-and-gloom right now when the whole world feels doom and gloom, but this book was incredibly, incredibly hopeful. Hopeful that no matter how bad things get, there will always be people willing to help and be in community. Hopeful that we can save our history and art and create a new home even after all has been destroyed. Hopeful about our capacity to see past our differences. This book does not by any means have any rose-colored glasses - it's not remotely Pollyanna-ish about how climate change will inevitably bring out the worst of people's racism, nativism, insularity, fear, and violence. And it didn't feel overbearing or overwrought - it didn't hit you in the head with it. I felt so attached to Nonie and Bix and Keller and the whole cast of characters we got to know, and this story will stay with me for a while.

At any given time, museum workers take on the tasks of identifying, cataloguing, and protecting exhibits, cultural records, and artifacts. This book is an apocalyptic account of the aftermath of climate change in the Northeast and the efforts to save those artifacts. The entire Hudson River Valley, including New York City, has been inundated with as much as 90 feet of toxic floodwaters. After their apartment has been washed out, curator Allen and his 8 and 11 year old daughters, Nonie and Bix, take refuge on the upper floors of The Museum of Natural History.

They, along with a handful of similarly dedicated academics and co-workers, move exhibits higher, out of harm’s way. They write in logbooks, recording all they can for future peoples. But when the “hypercane” hits, water breeches the windows of the museum’s top floor. They are forced to flee quickly. They appropriate a Native American canoe from an exhibit, fill it with as much food and medicine as they could gather, and pilot it north up the flooded Hudson River, attempting to reach the family farm Upstate.

Much of the population had already been taken out by a highly contagious, usually fatal disease. Scores of others drowned or escaped to higher ground as storms grew in intensity. Life was divided into two time frames, the “World as it Was“ and now, the vastly different “World as it Is.” The survivors bonded together through numerous life-threatening ordeals. They were resourceful, on alert, and almost always on the move. Author Caffall writes with a masterful, poetic hand, read-out-loud beautifully. The short chapters made for a quick and easy read. A fascinating, gripping, and thought-provoking tale. I could not put it down!

With thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a free advance reader’s e-copy, I have written this review voluntarily. (Publication date: January 7, 2025)

All The Water In The World describes a time when climate change has produced such massive weather that ‘normal’ life is not possible. Families live in warrens in high rise buildings and try to keep life and knowledge going by memorizing information from books in libraries. It’s a depressing book to read and think we may have something like that to look forward to.

I’ve been gravitating towards post-apocalyptic novels and this one fit the bill. Reminiscent of Station Eleven and navigating a new society. Excited to see the hype this gets!

Wow. I haven’t read anything this thought provoking in a while. This one will stick with me. It’s a climate-focused apocalyptic story, told from the perspective of a child. It was tense at times and very moving, with hope sprinkled in.
Loved the idea of them starting in a museum, and the well-characterized moments in different rooms of the museum. It was so well written and brought some whimsy to a depressing experience.
The different people they encountered on their journey felt so true to life. The writing was compelling and each character felt full and dynamic.

All The Water In The World is a literary post apocalyptic gem of a novel about a world with too much water. In an undisclosed future NYC, a group escape their home during a massive storm and try to find family further inland. Told from the first person POV of young teen Nonie, who along with her sister, Bix, their father, and other survivors lives on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History, trying to preserve the museum’s collections and survive the storms and floods caused by climate change. The book opens during a hypercane, with the group having to escape into the storm as it tears the museum open.
This was a beautifully written dystopian novel, told in the present day with flashbacks to the family’s past & how they and the other survivors ended up at AMNH. There was incredible character development in both sisters, and the story was both heartbreaking and beautiful.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of All The Water In The World in exchange for my honest review, I can’t wait to read more by this author in the future!

Read this book. New York City after all the glaciers melt, some people have survived by retreating to the rooftop of their workplace, and guarding exhibits there at The New York Museum of Natural History, while learning and attempting to preserve the past with respect.

However, the water, weather, and world are not at all finished.

Anticipated release January 2025. Look for it.

I enjoyed this apocalyptic story. It was very atmospheric. It reminded me of a cross between Station Eleven and The Walking Dead without the zombies. Recommended.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley. It's set in a world where we've lost most modern amenities as the glaciers have melted and the storm surges have wiped out most of our defenses. We get to know Nonie, Bix and their parents Fuller and Deidre through present time and through flashbacks. Norah seems to be on the Autism Spectrum and sees the world in a different way. She can sense what type of storms are coming. They live on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History in NYC, but eventually have to leave as a storm takes what external resources they have left. Thankfully they have a lot of internal resources. The writing was very compelling and hard to put down.

All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall
Received as an ARC. Nonie and Bix grew up in New York in the near future where extreme storms caused flooding to where they had to make a new home on top of the American Museum of Natural History where there parents worked. Miami and New Orleans are decimated. Their family and friends survive there until a hypercane forces them to navigate north up the overflowing Hudson River to try to find dry land and start over.
As they head north their struggles continue and have to trust others along the way.