Clade by James Bradley Titan Press September 5th 2017
It is sometime in the future, but we are not sure when. Adam is in the Antarctic collecting samples, his wife in Australia awaiting the results of their latest round of IVF.
Jump forward 3 years and Adam and Ellie are now parents to Summer, their relationship is fractured and virtually irreparable, much like the world they live in.
The climate is changing, seismic storms are wiping out countries, the heat is evermore intense and plagues threaten to wipe out entire populations.
In the midst of this Adam, Ellie and Summer are attempting to live in the ever changing world around them. As the years pass events impact on each of them both good and bad.
A bleak story you may think and in some respects it is. None of us know what the true effects of climate change will be but the events described in Clade are all a possibility. In other aspects this is a novel of hope and of the human ability to adapt and ultimately survive.
Clad is interesting and thought provoking, well researched and very well written. It does however jump to various dates in the future and no dates or even a hint at how far in the future the book was actually set was a little annoying at times. I also felt that some of the characters were actually not needed or were not treated with the same depth but merely used to highlight a climatic catastrophe in another country. It didn’t however detract from my enjoyment of the novel and my discovery of a new author that I look forward to reading again in the future.
About the author
Born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1967, James Bradley trained as a lawyer before becoming a novelist.
His previous novel include , Wrack, The Deep Field and The Resurrectionist.
James is also a critic for, appearing in Australian Newspapers and magazines and bloggs at City of Tongues.
