In Eleanor Catton’s third novel, Mira Bunting leads a group of guerilla gardeners who operate under the name Birnam Wood. The ragtag collective pushes back against climate change and capitalism by planting gardens, both legally and illegally, across New Zealand. When American billionaire Robert Lemoine offers to bankroll the group, Mira accepts the money without hesitation. But the tech mogul turns out to be more sinister than expected, and his funding becomes a major point of contention among the do-gooders. Told through rotating points of view, Birnam Wood is a thrilling surveillance satire that explores idealism and ideology, morality and motive—and questions what it means to be truly good in the era of late-stage capitalism. —Meg Zukin
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