Birnam Wood: The Sunday Times Bestseller

Birnam Wood is a gripping psychological thriller by the Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries. It follows Mira Bunting, who founded a guerrilla gardening group, and Robert Lemoine, an American billionaire, who wants to build his end-times bunker on an abandoned farm. The book explores themes of intentions, actions, and consequences and is a brilliant examination of the human impulse to ensure our own survival.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 432 pages
Publication date: 01 February 2024
Publisher: Granta Books

Birnam Wood is a novel that has been receiving critical acclaim and numerous awards. It was named as one of Granda Magazine's Best of Young British Novelists 2023, and it was a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2023. Additionally, it was shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards 2023. The novel was written by the acclaimed author Ann Patchett, who has previously won the Booker Prize for her previous book, The Luminaries.

The story of Birnam Wood takes place in a small town called Thorndike, which is located in a remote area surrounded by a dense forest. Five years ago, a woman named Mira Bunting founded a guerrilla gardening group called Birnam Wood. The group's mission is to plant crops wherever no one will notice, on the sides of roads, in forgotten parks, and neglected backyards. Mira and her friends have been struggling to break even for years, but then they stumble upon an opportunity that could change their fortunes: a landslide has closed the Korowai Pass, cutting off the town of Thorndike.

Natural disaster has created an opportunity for Mira and her friends to acquire a sizable farm that seems to have been abandoned. However, they soon discover that the farm is not as abandoned as they thought. Robert Lemoine, an enigmatic American billionaire, has snatched it up to build his end-times bunker. Lemoine approaches Mira and her friends and suggests that they work the land together. He claims that the land is rich in resources and that it could be a perfect location for their guerrilla gardening project.

Mira and her friends are intrigued by Lemoine's proposal, and they decide to work with him. However, they soon realize that they cannot trust him. Lemoine is secretive and mysterious, and he has a history of exploiting people for his own gain. As the novel progresses, Mira and her friends are tested in ways that they never could have imagined. Their ideals and ideologies are put to the test, and they are forced to make difficult decisions that could have profound consequences for their lives and the lives of others.

Birnam Wood is a gripping psychological thriller that explores themes of trust, loyalty, and survival. It is Shakespearean in its wit, drama, and immersion in character. The novel is brilliantly constructed, with a consideration of intentions, actions, and consequences that is both unflinching and thought-provoking. It is an examination of the human impulse to ensure our own survival, even in the face of impossible odds.

Overall, Birnam Wood is a must-read for anyone who enjoys a well-crafted novel that challenges the mind and the heart. It is a testament to the power of storytelling and the ability of literature to explore the depths of the human experience.

Weight: 298g
Dimension: 129 x 198 x 29 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781783784288