Lark Ascending (#1,109) by Silas House isn't your typical dystopian novel. Yes, teenaged Lark is fleeing America in search of political asylum in Ireland, the last country rumored to be taking in American refugees. On the way, he's lost everyone he's ever loved. That changes when he miraculously evades the soldiers who sank his ship to come ashore on Irish soil. His encounters there make up the meat of this evocative story.
Like James Rollins' science-based thrillers, what makes Lark Ascending so horrifying is the plausibility. In the very near future (so near it's already happening in Florida - today's news carried a threat of prison for school librarians who dare to stock books which groups like Moms for Liberty [theirs, not yours] find objectionable. Don't even get me started on the dismantling of public health by the quack Surgeon General, or the destruction of the higher education system, such as it is!) the Fundamentalists, Fundies or Nays as they're also known, overthrow the weakened American government and impose their own beliefs and values on everyone else. Disagree, or act differently, and you're disappeared. Climate change, widespread famine and wildfires soon make the land virtually uninhabitable. Lark and his family have escaped from Maryland to the mountains of Maine until the fires finally reach them, forcing them to cross the border to Canada and beyond.
The story is told beautifully through several viewpoints, perhaps most surprisingly, that of Sean, the dog. In this dystopian world, domestic pets have been slaughtered because they consume precious resources, so Sean's existence is a miracle by itself. What a difference he makes to those he encounters!
I loved this book with its lyrical language of landscape and on reflections of the human condition. If you are lucky enough to come across this book, be sure to have a box of tissues nearby. If you're like me, you'll need them!
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