tation eleven-esque, with some bird box vibes. But not the least bit a copycat or retelling. I was hesitant at first, just based on the description of “in the tradition of station eleven.” So glad I gave it a chance and will squeeze in as a favorite of mine for 2024. And will be a favorite of yours in 2025 when released.

Thank you for the opportunity to review! The writing is fascinating and crisp, really enjoyed the work of reading through this.

This is a really good story, I could not read it fast enough, scary that this could be our future with global warming. Nonie and her family, sister Biz and parents, had left their home in New York and moved into the American Museum of Natural History (shortened to Amen throughout the book) after a severe storm hits NY and places begin to flood, her mother had worked at the museum and used her keys to let them in. A group of similar workers also find their way there, they lock the doors to keep out the Lost Ones, and create an encampment of sorts on the roof. They hunt in the park and carefully document all the exhibits for future generations. A very large storm hits, a hypercane they call it, and their rooftop home is destroyed along with a good portion of the museum. They take a canoe from one of the native exhibits and escape into the water surrounding NY. They eventually make their way onto the Hudson River and make a plan to head for a house in the country that Nonie's parents were familiar with. There are only 4 of them in the canoe, Nonie, Bix, their father and a friend, the others had passed during the storm or during a mosquito borne disease that had hit previously. Their journey to this house is fraught with difficulties, trying to hide from other people (who would probably eat them), trying to find food, water and shelter when the rain comes. They find a house with people that allow them to stay and use their knowledge to treat their ailments. The author mentions in her acknowledgement that it took 11 years for her to write this book, let's hope the next doesn't take quite that long. Thanks to #Netgalley and #St Martins Press for the ARC.

The first part of this book really grabbed my attention, and while my interest waned a little bit towards the end of the book, I still really enjoyed it. Nonie's narration was really unique, and I loved the before and after timeline.

I enjoy a near future dystopian novel and All the Water in the World is a great read, I did find it slow going in parts but nothing to stop me reading.
The characters are all strong and full of personality as they orbit around the main characters of Bix and Nonie.
There is action, humour, thoughtfulness and drama and I will not hesitate to recommend it. I would say if you liked The Light Pirate and The Last Murder at the End of the World you might enjoy this book.

The concept of this book is not only wild but scary considering the state of our world. Despite that, I really enjoyed it. Usually this genre isn't my style so I went outside my usually comfort zone because the description seemed so interesting. I really found myself entranced in this story and imagining myself in a world like this. The writing is beautiful and descriptive but no overly so and the story is engaging enough to keep you reading!

I had such high hopes for this book - I love a good disaster dystopian. But this one was so dragging in the beginning, I lost interest :(

I loved this book, though "love" seems like the wrong word. It's a non-stop narrative set in the near future, when climate change has wreaked havoc on the East Coast, and probably most of the world (we only see the East Coast, but it's telling that no aid comes to help the survivors of the storms that pound the coast). Especially in light of what has happened in North Carolina, this one is a must-read.

Wow, what a book. In a future that is frighteningly close, the earth's glaciers melt - raising water levels to catastrophic levels and superstorms terrify the few people who remain. Cities are either ruined or gone and society truly collapses into a "every person for themselves" survival mindset. The narrator is Nonie, a young girl who lives with her parents and sister on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History in a deserted NYC. Eventually they are forced to abandon the museum as the storms increase in strength and what comes next is equally terrifying. Similar to Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and would be a good choice for book clubs.

All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall is a haunting, beautifully written dystopian novel that explores the delicate balance between survival, history, and the power of human connection in a world transformed by climate disaster. Told through the eyes of Nonie, a girl with a deep affinity for water, the story is set in a post-glacial New York City where her family and a group of researchers live in a makeshift settlement atop the American Museum of Natural History. Their mission: to preserve what remains of humanity’s cultural and scientific collections.

The novel’s world-building is vivid and atmospheric, capturing the eerie quiet of an abandoned metropolis and the fragile hope that drives Nonie’s family. When a superstorm forces them to flee up the Hudson River, carrying with them a precious book documenting their work, the story shifts into a harrowing journey. Along the way, they encounter other survivors—some welcoming, others menacing—who have adapted in different and often startling ways to the changed world.

Caffall’s writing is lyrical and meditative, yet the novel is also an engaging adventure, filled with danger, uncertainty, and the deep love that binds Nonie’s family together. Inspired by real-life stories of curators saving priceless collections during war, All the Water in the World is a reflection on what we choose to save from collapse, both tangible and intangible, and a testament to the resilience of human spirit in the face of environmental catastrophe.

Fans of Parable of the Sower and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler will find a lot to love here. It’s a thought-provoking, heart-stirring read that blends survival, love, and the importance of knowledge in a world forever altered.

I loved this book. This is a dystopian story. Global warming has changed the world. There are terrible storms, The ocean has covered the coasts. New York City is mostly underwater. The American Museum of Natural History has become a refuge for a group of former employees. They continue to do science, trying to preserve things while surviving storms, plagues and wild dogs. When a superstorm breaks through the city's flood gates they have to leave. Four remaining survivors, two girls, their father and a family friend flee north in an ancient birchbark canoe. The journey up the Hudson is perilous and echoes that of the early explorers.

When I say wow I mean it. This book surprised me at just how good it was. With a few tweaks here and there I’d give it five stars

This was a stunning book, and I am so grateful to NetGalley for the ARC to get to read it. The characters are fantastic, the character development throughout the novel, it gets under your skin in the best way. You are rooting for these characters. It is emotional. It is dark. It is light. There is hope and despair. Do yourselves a favor and get this book as soon as it is out. This was a phenomenal story.

“All the Water in the World” by Eiren Caffall was an absolutely stunning novel about the extreme realty of climate change and the possible total devastation that would follow.
It begins where the worldwide sea levels have already changed and in NYC we meet a family living on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History along with other storm survivor refugees.
We follow the survival journey in present time of this family after a Supercane (the deadliest hurricane) hits the New York area. We view the changed word without any resources and understand the reality of living without power, medicine, clothing, clean water or items we take for granted today.

Every human feeling is reflected in this story as well as all the brutal societal issues we are trying to deal with universally. This story is supposed to be dystopian science ficton, but it was so profoundly real to me that I am still thinking about what could be done to effect change in our world! I highly recommend to everyone.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars! If literary post-apocalyptic stories are your thing (and they’re very much mine), I think you’ll really enjoy this lyrical entry into the genre. Set in the not-too-distant future, the novel follows two sisters trying to make their way out of a drowned and decimated New York City after a “hypercane” wipes out the shelter their parents (along with a group of other academics) built of the roof of the American Museum of Natural History. The imagery of NYC fallen to climate change and rising sea levels is really powerful and rendered so evocatively. Caffall does an amazing job of immersing you in this once-mighty city, now submerged underneath toxic and deadly seawater.

The novel is told in the present day, as the sisters make their way north, and in flashbacks to the past, growing up in their apartment on 10th street. It’s a fast read with enough tension to keep you turning the pages, and some really gorgeous writing that makes you stop and reread a passage to appreciate it.

As the blurb says, it’s perfect for fans of Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven. I think anyone who enjoyed Lily Brooks-Dalton’s cli-fi novel The Light Pirate will also appreciate this one.

One more note, Caffall said in her acknowledgments that she worked on this novel for 11 years. When I hear something like that, it makes me so happy for the author that all of their hard work and perseverance paid off. 💙🌊

All the Water in the World explores a dystopian future where the world is now flooded. Nonie, her sister, and her father are part of a group that has stayed behind in flooded NYC to try and save the history preserved in the Natural History Museum. Unfortunately, a super storm has forced them to flee their home on the roof of the Natural History Museum.

This book will be good for book clubs as the story is filled with discussion opportunities. Nonie, our narrator, is a young girl with a unique connection to water. As the story progresses, she shares the changes she has experienced during her lifetime and what the world looks like now away from where they have been living. There is a tone that is both hopefulness and survival throughout.
I like how the story shines a light on the people who work tirelessly to ensure that history is not lost in catastrophe and the decisions of how and what to save. The author also looks at how communities will reform and the social and moral structures that may come to the forefront.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

Dystopian/survival type stories are my jam, especially when there's a bit of world-ending weather-ish type thing going on. I was really eager to read this book! The premise was really interesting and a different spin on climate change that I hadn't read before.

Unfortunately for me while it was good it wasn't a LOVE. For a book that is so emotionally wrought it read pretty dry for me (but that could absolutely be a me-issue). I also generally don't mind books that go back to "before" and then current time but it seemed kind of chaotic in the way it was done here.

If you enjoy this type of novel I think you'll still enjoy this one. I just wouldn't send it to the front of the list but it's still worth the read.

Read this if you liked Life As We Knew It.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing this book, with my honest review below.

All the Water in the World was so beautifully written and such a unique addition to the post-apocalypse genre of books that I found myself revisiting parts of this story after I finished it and at unexpected times.

The setting is expertly described, taking place in NYC after climate change has led to rising sea levels and numerous super hurricanes that have led to death, destruction, and mass migrations. Norah (Nonie) and her sister Bix (Beatrice) along with her father and fellow displaced survivor Keller are introduced to us with a bang as a hypercane (all the worst hurricane characteristics in one x 10) takes away their found family and destroys their home in the American Museum of Natural History. While right away the book mentions people and events unseen, the chapters that follow help introduce these people and their dates as well as what led Nonie and her family to the museum and what their mission and day to day life has been like.

While this book isn’t just reflective of the past and staying still in the present, those parts were my favorite and the most thought provoking and emotional. I did deeply appreciate that Eiren Caffall addressed issues like racism and how that might play out in a disruptive future, something I haven’t seen in other post-apocalyptic stories (where writers may assume struggling to survive will overtake prejudices and ignorance - when in fact this seems to be a part of being humanity we will never escape) as well as immigration and how chaos in a rapidly worsening future would see injustice play out even more severely.

If you enjoy reading about a future that could soon be ours and the very human feelings and actions, small and large, that may come from it, this is for you. Additionally, if you enjoy writing that transports you to certain settings and passes on emotions that shouldn’t be yours, you would be remiss to pass this book up. I would add this is simple to follow and I’d recommend it for readers of YA and up.

Such an intriguing story of what could be. Very dystopian and a future "what if" scenario! Such heartbreak but also such amazing character growth from Biz and Nonie. I absolutely devoured this book as I had to know how it was going to play out for both of them. I also really loved Mary and Esther! Just such a good read and intriguing to think "what if", like if the world flooded and if all this would happen. Nonie and Bix were truly survivors and fought their hardest! Brilliant writing and amazing characters!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press to read/review. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.

I had a really hard time connecting with the writing style. It really didn't match the description and I found myself disappointed, despite being grateful for the advanced copy. However, I do think there is a good story there that might resonate with some readers