Worldwide – The End of the Ocean by Maja Lunde

Submitted: 24th October 2019

Our water supply is in danger across the world….

We all take it for granted and moan when it rains, but we would die without it. This novel is particularly apt given the various news stories and climate change issues in the media now. It’s not just a story about water and the environment however; this is about people, family, survival and perseverance

Its title in Norwegian was ‘Blå’ meaning simply, Blue and this book is like water itself; it flows, is simply written, and plays hot and cold with your emotions. Signe tells the story in 2017 and David and Lou tell theirs some twenty years into the future, when the very future of our planet looks bleak indeed.

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After the rather remarkable History of Bees, this is another fascinating story about another vital resource of our world; water.

The theme of water is present throughout – Signe loves to swim, lives among the fjords of Norway. She is determined to protect her small town and the environment against changes which will affect the balance and beauty of the water. Water is everything here; it creates the landscape, the waterfalls, as well as being vital to life of course.

Flash forward to 2041 and water has been replaced by drought. Fires are spreading, destroying what little is left. People are dying. The world is dying. Not a stronger and clearer message have I read, no seen, in a book like this before.

So, how do these two stories intertwine? Interestingly, is the answer. It was like reading a book which enlightens and entertains all at once. The more you read, the more you think of the issues it raises. Greta Thurnberg came to mind more than once.

From Norway to France, one drop of water could mean the difference between life and death.I felt the beauty of Norway and the joy of the watery landscape then immediately felt thirsty as I saw the immediate aftermath in France. You really should go into this novel fairly blind as the story, the concept and the whole sense of the water really should take you by surprise and wash you away – only then will you appreciate its scope and raw, visceral power.

Powerful stuff. Enticing characters too which really submerges you into the whirlpool that this novel creates.

I just hope it stays in the fiction section.