AnAirForceloadmasterintheVietnamWarisshotoutofthesky,thensavedbyfallingintoabanyan.Anartistinheritsahundredyearsofphotographicportraits,allofthesamedoomedAmericanchestnut.Ahard-partyingundergraduateinthelate1980selectrocutesherself,dies,andissentbackintolifebycreaturesofairandlight.Ahearing-andspeech-impairedscientistdiscoversthattreesarecommunicatingwithoneanother.Thesefour,andfiveotherstrangers--eachsummonedindifferentwaysbytrees--arebroughttogetherinalastandviolentstandtosavethecontinent’sfewremainingacresofvirginforest.Inhistwelfthnovel,NationalBookAwardwinnerRichardPowersdeliversasweeping,impassionednovelofactivismandresistancethatisalsoastunningevocationof--andpaeanto--thenaturalworld.Fromtherootstothecrownandbacktotheseeds,TheOverstoryunfoldsinconcentricringsofinterlockingfablesthatrangefromantebellumNewYorktothelatetwentieth-centuryTimberWarsofthePacificNorthwestandbeyond,exploringtheessentialconflictonthisplanet:theonetakingplacebetweenhumansandnonhumans.Thereisaworldalongsideours--vast,slow,interconnected,resourceful,magnificentlyinventive,andalmostinvisibletous.Thisisthestoryofahandfulofpeoplewholearnhowtoseethatworldandwhoaredrawnupintoitsunfoldingcatastrophe.TheOverstoryisabookforallreaderswhodespairofhumanity’sself-imposedseparationfromtherestofcreationandwhohopeforthetransformative,regeneratingpossibilityofahomecoming.Ifthetreesofthisearthcouldspeak,whatwouldtheytellus?“Listen.There’ssomethingyouneedtohear.“
