This apocalyptic novel is told from the viewpoint of a child, Nonie, who begins the story with her family; her parents worked at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and who sought refuge there when a storm and flood drove them out of their downtown apartment. Other employees and their families also seek refuge here, creating a makeshift living arrangement on the roof and spaces of the Museum. We learn from Nonie that the glaciers have all melted, sea levels have risen dramatically, the weather has warmed, seasons are a thing of the past, and storms are increasingly powerful and damaging. Flood gates keep the ocean from totally swamping NYC, until one night when a hypercane, a previously theoretical extreme tropical cyclone hits the city, destroys the flood gates, and swamps NYC higher than the tree tops in Central Park. This destroys and floods their AMNH refuge, forcing Nonie, her father, her sister Bix, and father’s friend Keller, the only survivors, to flee in a birchbark canoe, part of the Museum’s exhibit on early America. They take what is now a river down Central Park West, to 93rd Street, west to the Hudson River, then north. Their hope is to make it to a farm in the Berkshires in Massachusetts, childhood home of Nonie’s mother.

Nonie tells their story in flashbacks to life at AMNH, how the community there sustained themselves, hunting for deer in Central Park, creating a garden, bee hives, raiding abandoned pharmacies and hospitals for whatever medicine they could scavenge; amidst many dangers of wild dog packs, lost, violent, and deranged people, mosquito-borne illness, and the ever present threat of sudden storms and floods. The community helps to school the children, as most employees are scientists and educators, studying anthropology, entomology, botany, and marine science. Nonie’s mother studied marine life, and told Nonie of a research vessel, the Sally Ride, built to withstand the severe storms on the oceans, studying the effects of sea rise and warming. Nonie’s deepest desire is to work on the Sally Ride, continuing her mother’s field of research.

The flood and escape are told in cinematic detail, but I will let the reader discover this for yourself. Caffall does a good job of maintaining a high level of suspense, whether the party will make it safely to the farm in the Berkshires. She maintains the child’s perspective effectively, the sharp observations of children, as well as the various traumas felt by Nonie from the threats and losses she suffers. Caffall also believably depicts the post-flood scene along their journey, how the lack of law and order, and the desperate depravations endured by all make every encounter fraught with danger. Nonie was born into an apocalyptic world, so she never knew what pre-flood normal life was like. Her sister Bix has some memory of that time, but not much. They are the generation that will adapt, create new communities, and find a way to rebuild the world.

This is a very believable book. I don’t know if the science could be accurate, but Caffall does a good job of making these scenarios ring true. She also does a fine job of maintaining the child’s point of view throughout. For those who enjoy dystopic fiction, highly recommended.