''A Children's Bible'' is a

climate fiction Climate fiction (sometimes shortened as cli-fi) is literature that deals with climate change.Glass, Rodge (31 May 2013).Global Warning: The Rise of 'Cli-fi' retrieved 3 March 2016 Generally speculative in nature but scientifically-grounded, wor ...

novel by

Lydia Millet Lydia Millet (born December 5, 1968) is an American novelist. Her 2020 novel '' A Children's Bible'', was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and named one of the ten best books of the year by the ''New York Times Book Review''. S ...

that documents the experience of a group of children in the face of climate change as their parents fail to respond to a climate-charged hurricane. It was her 13th novel.

Plot

Context

Eve, the novel's narrator, belongs to a group of children staying at a large, rented estate with their parents for the summer. The children, mostly disgusted by their parents' hedonistic behavior, spend most of their time on the property of the estate, until a hurricane interrupts their activities. The parents are never named, and the book filters their activities through the perception of Eve and the other children.

Development and writing

Millet has said that the novel does not take place in an "alternate world, simply this one" and believes that words such as apocalyptic or dystopian used to describe the book apply equally to contemporary life. Millet enjoyed writing the book.

Reception

Critical reception

According to literary review aggregator

Book Marks Literary Hub is a daily literary website that launched in 2015 by Grove Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin, American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame editor Terry McDonell, and Electric Literature founder Andy Hunter. Conten ...

, the novel received mostly favorable reviews. The ''New York Times'' book review called the book a "potent allegory". The ''Wall Street Journal'' review of the novel focuses on how the novel has humor in the face of a grim plot. ''Time'' listed the novel as one of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020. Jonathan Dee, in the same ''New York Times'' review, compared the novel's setting to that of Susan Minot's book ''

Monkeys Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

''.

Honors

The novel was shortlisted for the 2020

National Book Award for Fiction The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but ...

. It was included on the list published by the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' of the best books of 2020.

References

2020 American novels Climate change novels Novels set in the United States W. W. Norton & Company books Novels set in Pennsylvania Novels set in New York (state) {{DEFAULTSORT:Children's Bible