Introducing our Monthly Spotlight for May: The Overstory by Richard Powers
This month, we immerse ourselves in a remarkable novel that explores our entangled relationships with trees and each other
How large do trees loom in your life?
For author Richard Powers, an encounter with a colossal and ancient redwood tree changed his writing forever: ‘It was as wide as a house, as tall as a football pitch is long, and as old as King Arthur. When I learned that redwoods that size and age were still being felled, it put both my writing and my life on a radically different course.’
The Overstory is, put simply, a book about trees and our relationship with them. Sweeping across the United States and across decades – from the mid-1800s to the present day – it follows nine strangers who are called by the natural world to take action to protect it.
After The Overstory was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2018, we asked Powers what type of books he’s most drawn to write. He told us, ‘I am compelled by the “scientific romance” – works that manage to set the beauty and sweep of some large-scale, non-human drama against more familiar and local human urgencies.’
The Overstory – which went on to make the 2018 shortlist – does just that. It’s an ecological epic fuelled by love and activism where trees are as important as people.
As the pine at the beginning of the book says, ‘Listen. There’s something you need to hear.’
Our Monthly Spotlight for May includes a detailed reading guide (ideal for book clubs!), an extract to whet your appetite, and a comprehensive guide to Powers’ best fiction (he’s written 14 novels to date, four of which have been Booker nominated). We’re also offering you the chance to win a copy of The Overstory.
Explore our reading guide to the novel
Whether you’re new to The Overstory or have read it and would like to explore it more deeply, this comprehensive guide features insights from critics and the book’s author, as well as discussion points and suggestions for further reading.
Read an extract from The Overstory
‘First there was nothing. Then there was everything. Then, in a park above a western city after dusk, the air is raining messages. A woman sits on the ground, leaning against a pine. Its bark presses hard against her back, as hard as life. Its needles scent the air and a force hums in the heart of the wood. Her ears tune down to the lowest frequencies. The tree is saying things, in words before words.’
Where to start with Richard Powers
The American author with the most Booker Prize nominations to date, Richard Powers often explores the intersection between technology and the natural world. To mark the 40th anniversary of the publication of his debut novel, here’s our guide to his best books.
Win a copy of The Overstory
Your chance to win a copy of the novel and a limited-edition Booker Prize tote bag. Simply enter your details on our website by 12:00 BST on Friday 30 May 2025.
Happy reading, and don’t forget to let us – and fellow readers – know what you think about The Overstory in the comments.
The Overstory is one of the best books never to win the prize. Powers was unlucky to publish the same year as Milkman by Anna Burns, which was a worthy winner. And then Bewilderment was again unlucky in 2021, when the shortlist was one of the strongest in the last decade.
Gem of a book 💎📚💎