Trashlands

Coral’s reputation is known throughout Scrappalachia as the woman who walked into a whale. Pregnant, hungry, and uncertain of what would come next, she showed bravery most men couldn’t. Her power and the ways she vies to keep it are the heart of Alison Stine’s latest novel Trashlands.

The world has suffered a catastrophic climate event that has rendered most of the country without power; the coasts are faring better, but flyover country is decimated and plastic is king. At Trashlands, the strip club and its surrounding encampment, the people eke out an existence from the meager food they can harvest—nuts, insects, weeds—and the plastic they can trade for other essentials. Coral lives with her man Trillium in a bus belonging to the teacher, Mr. Fall. The three of them are a kind of family who spend most of the book trying to find Coral’s son who was abducted to work in the plastic factory.

The pace and detail of Stine’s book are haunting and powerful. Trashlands is a reminder that we can come together if we choose to, but it is also a dire warning of what will happen if we don’t. It is a must-read.