Oh, this is outstanding. I knew I'd like it from the first chapter, which is narrated by a swamp - my wetland-loving self could not have had a happier opening. Compelling hook, gorgeous language, but then came the relationships between three sets of neighbours, and the characterisation here is just incredible.

Sera and her family are climate refugees recently settled in New Zealand and struggling to adapt both to a new country and the loss of the depressing and terrifying old. Sera forms a close bond with Keri, a single mother trying to raise her kids with limited resources - the two women are both marginalised in a number of different ways, including race and poverty - and Keri's teenage daughter has an uncanny connection to the swamp that once underlay the land they're all living on. As appealing as the two women are, however, the third house in this little community houses Janet and her red-pill, white-supremacist, attempted-terrorist son Conor. It's Conor who is particularly well-drawn, in an absolutely noxious way: his spiral into right-wing extremism is chillingly portrayed.

In the end, however, water overcomes all. I won't say how, as I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but the ending is extremely satisfying, and connection, resilience, and basic human decency win out. This is a confronting but ultimately very hopeful book, and I'm so glad to have read it.