Playground

A Novel

24 September 2024

Territory Rights — Worldwide including Singapore and Malaysia, but excluding the British Commonwealth.

Description

Four lives are drawn together in a sweeping, panoramic new novel from Richard Powers, showcasing the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world’s first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane’s work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough.

They meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, whose deposits of phosphorus once helped to feed the world. Now the tiny atoll has been chosen for humanity’s next adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But first, the island’s residents must vote to greenlight the project or turn the seasteaders away.

Set in the world’s largest ocean, this awe-filled book explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize in a still-unfolding oceanic game, and interweaves beautiful writing, rich characterization, profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can.

Reviews

"A characterful, capacious and engaging novel, distilling subjects as diverse as oceanography, climate change, the legacies of colonialism and the arc of a lifelong friendship into an exhilaratingly entangled narrative in which Powers’ unparalleled gifts for revealing the magic and mystery of the natural world are on full display." — The 2024 Booker Prize Judges

"[Powers is] a grand old oak of American letters: a towering, sturdy figure often overlooked for flashier species…. Playground is an enchanting entry point to his work that swings open easily…. Reminds, with a spirit of fun and wonder, why the sea — an alien planet within a planet — is so very worth sustained attention… The late twist… whorled as a seashell, may leave even the highest VO2 max reader gasping a little for air…. This is a novel that pries us from our daily hourglass, forcing a hard focus on the sand." — Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times Book Review

"Prepare to be awed… A mind-blowing reflection on what it means to live on a dying planet… I wasn’t prepared for the astonishing resolution that Powers delivers. In the now-vast library of fiction and nonfiction books reminding us of the planet’s imperiled condition, I can’t think of another novel that treats the Earth’s plight with such an expansive and disorienting vision… Powers manages to entwine our longing for friendship, paradise and immortality with the algorithms of artificial intelligence that surpass all understanding." — Ron Charles, Washington Post

"Ambitious, rapturous… A transcendentalist deep dive of a novel… What a lush, opaque world Powers conjures… A fabulous exploration." — Xan Brooks, The Guardian

"Exhilarating… intoxicating… [A] sprawling parable of a book." — David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times

"Unexpected and genuinely fascinating… Ingenious tricks and clever devices abound in Powers's fiction, but never before with the provocative implications of the turn in Playground." — Randy Boyagoda, Atlantic

"Richly hued… Gorgeous… No author has done more to turn our gaze outward to the mysteries of the universe, above our heads and below our feet." — Hamilton Cain, Boston Globe

"Brims with love for humanity and the planet.… [Powers] nimbly hopscotches between the wonders of nature and the marvels and dangers of cutting-edge science." — Heller McAlpin, NPR

"Brilliant… How Powers manages to draw these three stories together will change the way you see the world." — Ron Charles, CBS "The Book Report"

"Hugely ambitious… Paint[s] the page with colour and refracted light." — John Self, Financial Times

"True, indisputable greatness… Powers writes with erudition and electrifying beauty." — Yagnishsing Dawoor, Observer

"Soaringly imaginative yet firmly grounded… [Playground] deals with the most pressing issues of our time in the most wrenchingly human terms." — Wendy Smith, National Book Review

"History unspools in this luminous journey that interweaves a 3,000-year-old board game, AI and floating cities.…all-around delightful." — People

"Vivid and ambitious…a love letter to the natural world.…Playground is ravishing in its descriptions of an underwater universe as fragile as it is ancient and unyielding." — Taylor Antrim, Vogue

"Ultra-vivid, wildly gripping, and visionary… Powers evokes [the ocean's] ever more fragile splendor with glimmering schools of sensual detail." — Jonathan Miles, Garden & Gun

"You’ll never look at the ocean the same way again. Playground isn’t merely a great American novel, but a magnificent one…. Increasingly gripping… brilliant on the complications of friendship… incandescently beautiful… In a word: wow." — Nick Duerden, The Independent

"Magnificent… A provocative exploration of our depths both interior and oceanic." — Kristin H. Macomber, Washington Independent Review of Books

"A richly layered story that examines the intersection of technology, nature, and personal relationships. Powers' signature blend of intellectual depth and compelling storytelling shines through… Thought-provoking literature that engages both the mind and heart." — Chaya Colman and Sophie Ezra, Glamour UK

"[Powers is] the greatest living American novelist… An impressive and warm-hearted book." — Tom LeClair, Open Letters Review

"Inimitable… [Playground] immers[es] us in a boundless sense of wonder." — Emily Choate, Nashville Scene

"Is there anything Richard Powers cannot write? The world here is complete, seductive, and promising. The writing feels like the ocean. Vast, mysterious, deep, and alive." — Percival Everett

"An extraordinarily immersive journey through lives linked in mysterious ways—gripping, alarming, and uplifting." — Emma Donoghue

"Powers is a master of taking important topics of our times—from threats to our oceans and climate change to AI—and turning them into riveting and fiercely relevant books imbued with psychological insight and a deep awe for nature. This eloquent dance of the scientific and emotional makes him one of our finest storytellers. Playground is brilliant, captivating, and important—and the best book I’ve read this year." — Andrea Wulf