It's hot in Washington. No sign of rain. The world's
climates are changing, catastrophe beckons, but no one
in power is noticing. Yet. Tom Wolfe meets Michael
Crichton in this highly topical, witty and entertaining
science thriller. When the Arctic ice pack was first
measured in the 1950s, it averaged thirty feet thick in
midwinter. By the end of the century it was down to
fifteen. One August the ice broke. The next year the
break-up started in July. The third year, it began in
May. That was last year. It's an increasingly steamy
summer in America's capital as environmental policy
advisor Charlie Quibler cares for his young son, and
deals with the frustrating politics of global warming.
According to the President and his science advisor Dr S,
the weather isn't important! But Charlie must find a way
to get a sceptical administration to act before it's too
late - and his progeny find themselves living in Swamp
World. Just arrived in Washington to lobby the Senate
for aid is an embassy from Khembalung, a sinking island
nation in the Bay of Bengal.Charlie's wife Anna,
director of bioinformatics at the National Science
Foundation and well known for her hyperrational
intensity, is entranced by the Khembalis. By contrast,
her colleague, Frank Vanderwal, is equally cynical about
the Buddhists and the NSF. The profound effect the
Khembali ambassador has on both Charlie and Frank could
never have been predicted - unlike the abrupt,
catastrophic climate change which is about to transform
everything. Forty Signs of Rain is an unforgettable tale
of survival which captures a world where even the
innocent pattern of rainfall resounds with the destiny
of the biosphere. |
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