The Overstory

by Richard Powers

Richard Powers's 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel weaves together the stories of nine Americans whose lives become entangled with trees — and with each other — in a sprawling narrative about ecological grief and human stubbornness. From a chestnut tree photographed across generations to a woman who awakens to tree communication after nearly dying, Powers builds an argument that the non-human world has as much claim to our attention as any human drama. The novel is structurally audacious, emotionally overwhelming, and scientifically grounded. It permanently changes how you look at a forest.