The New Wilderness - Diane Cook

I’ve been reading a lot of older books recently so I was keen to get my hands on a Booker 2020 longlister, and this was perhaps the one I’d seen the most hype about. The New Wilderness by Diane Cook is a debut novel, and an extremely confident one at that, which explores some pertinent themes.

The novel details a futuristic world in which climate change has ravaged the landscape, showing the contrast between the City which is overpopulated and polluted with smog, versus the Wilderness State which is out of bounds to humans. That is, until a group of twenty intrepid volunteers venture into the Wilderness as part of a study to see if humans can co-exist peacefully with nature without polluting the purity of the Wilderness.

Bea and her daughter Agnes are part of this group, and escaped the dangers of the City which was ravaging Agnes’ young lungs. Cook explores primarily the mother-daughter relationship which is fraught and at times dependent and toxic. Whilst Bea struggles with her position as alpha in the group and her desire to return to the City now that Agnes has recovered, her daughter grows more wild and unruly, settling into her nomadic life more than Bea could have ever imagined.

The equilibrium of the wandering group is thrown into turmoil when it becomes clear that they are not the only people living in the Wilderness State. The relationship between Bea and Agnes seems at times to be irreparable, and as the group become more feral and desperate and their limits are tested, it becomes clear that living in complete harmony with nature and leaving no trace of human pollution is near impossible.

Cook addresses themes of climate change, family, power and the balance of man vs. nature in a highly enjoyable and self-assured debut novel which is littered with poignant and shocking moments. This is definitely a well-deserved contender for the Booker prize and I will certainly be reading some of the other novels on this year’s list.