“‘The Great Transition,’ the debut novel by the Maine writer Nick Fuller Googins, did not stay on my bedside table long. It grabbed me yesterday as I tried to slip past the table of new releases, and I read it within 24 hours because I couldn’t put it down.

“Googins’ book is so very human and so very timely. His story carries us into the future, when humans have actually achieved net-zero emissions. We are not spared the struggles his characters endured to remake the world, yet we are deeply grounded in the emotional lives of one family, climate hero parents and their completely believable, thoroughly teenage, daughter.

“The most resounding issues of our time braid themselves into the story through the different perspectives of these three characters. It is deeply satisfying, intriguing, sobering and inspiring. I enthusiastically recommend it to everyone.”

ALLICE HAIDDEN, Portland


Mainers, please email to tell us about the book on your bedside table. In a paragraph or two, describe the book and be sure to tell us what drew you to it. What makes it a can’t-miss read for the rest of us? We want to hear what you are reading and why. Send your selection to pgrodinsky@pressherald.com, and we may use it as a future Bedside Table.


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