All the Water in The World

Title:  All the Water in The World

Author:  Eiren Caffall

Publication Information:  St. Martin's Press. 2025. 304 pages.

ISBN:  1250353521 / 978-1250353528

Rating:   ★★★★

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "The Monster in the Water: This is the hypercane, the biggest king of hurricane there could be."

Favorite Quote:  "If there was light here, there could be light in other places. If there was power in me, I could spread it. I could let that power glow and make myself a beacon."

There is The World As It Was and The World As It Is. There are memories of what was, and there are the challenges and reality of what is. Nonie and her family are survivors. She, her sister, and her father have survived the storms that drowned New York City and perhaps much of the rest of the world. Nonie has the unique ability to "feel" water. She can sense storms.

They live in the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) along with a few others who survived - a family created. The AMNH provides a refuge from the elements, a safe space from the Lost scavenging the city, and a way to try and preserve the treasures of the museum. Per the book description and the author's note, the setting of the museum and the work of Nonie's parents as researchers and curators is an homage to real individuals in Iraq and Leningrad who worked to save historical treasures in times of war and upheaval. If I had not read that note, I don't know that I would make that connection. This book is definitely not historical fiction, but this note did send me in search of that history.

The plot of the book is straight forward. A storm like no other - a hypercane - has arrived. In scientific research, a "hypercane" is a theoretical, extreme tropical storm with enormous destructive power that could form if ocean temperatures get to 50°C (122°F). This is a storm that Nonie does not feel. It just arrives. The storm forces Nonie and her family to flee the AMNH. The goal is to travel up the Hudson River to their mother's childhood home - a farm that may or may not still exist. It is unclear why they feel that the farm survived the storms and provides a safe space, but they do. A dreamed Utopia, perhaps? The dream of safety and peace that every refugee has, perhaps?

The book then tells the story of this precarious journey. As the book description states, "They encounter communities that have adapted in very different and sometimes frightening ways to the new reality." This is a book of survival and, in some sense, adventure. As expected, there are helpers along the way and those who would harm. In each encounter is a microcosm of society - communities organized and run in different ways, individuals who follow along with the leaders and those who would follow the voice of their conscience and of humanity.

Flashbacks bring in the past - the people, the places, and the things lost. These memories help to flesh out the main characters and create a greater intensity to the emotions of the book. A post-apocalyptic book of danger and survival can sometimes provide the perfect escape from reality! All the Water in the World is such a book. It helps that I can visualize and put myself in the physical setting of the book. At some point, I think this book would make a good movie. The ending is perhaps too neat a package, but what an adventure getting there.

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