Splendours of the deep : a manta ray (Mobula birostris) from belowJuergen Freund/naturepl.com
PlaygroundRichard Powers (Hutchinson Heinemann (UK); W. W. Norton (US))
The distinguished novelist Richard Powers is best known for his novel The Overstory. This was inspired by the work of forest ecologist Suzanne Simard, and it was in effect a love letter to trees. It was shortlisted for the 2018 Booker award and won Powers the 2019 Pulitzer prize for fiction.
Playground is the author’s 14th novel. It has been longlisted for the 2024 Booker, and there are heavy echoes of The Overstory. This time,…