The Deep-Time Epic That Reframes the Climate Crisis

A richly imagined, intricately woven novel of hope and adventure set in the climate-changed world of our own descendants, by the acclaimed author of WHISKEY WHEN WE’RE DRY

A young boy and his older sisters find themselves suddenly and utterly alone in their once bustling fishing village. Their food supplies dwindling, they must set out across a breathtaking and treacherous wilderness in search of help.

Up the coast, raiders deliver the children's mother, along with the rest of their human cargo, to the last port city of a waning empire. Determined to reunite with her children, she plots her escape—while fellow captives plan open revolt. 

At the center of power in this failing city, a young scholar inherits his father's business and position of privilege—as well as his considerable debts. When the empire’s elite prepare to flee to a newly imagined utopia, he must decide where his allegiance lies.

As the futures they were promised crumble with the shifting environment, these characters converge in a struggle for the future of humanity—who will inherit what remains, and can they avoid repeating the mistakes of previous generations? At once a riveting survival story, an epic of the distant future, and a boldly anti-apocalypse novel, THE ANCIENTS braids a multilayered narrative about human resilience, our stewardship of the natural world, and the power of the stories we leave to future generations.