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A Novel
by Michelle Min Sterling
In a near-future northern settlement, a handful of climate change survivors find their fates intertwined in this mesmerizing and transportive novel in the vein of Station Eleven and The Power.
In the far north of Canada sits Camp Zero, an American building project hiding many secrets.
Desperate to help her climate-displaced Korean immigrant mother, Rose agrees to travel to Camp Zero and spy on its architect in exchange for housing. She arrives at the same time as another newcomer, a college professor named Grant who is determined to flee his wealthy family's dark legacy. Gradually, they realize that there is more to the architect than previously thought, and a disturbing mystery lurks beneath the surface of the camp. At the same time, rumors abound of an elite group of women soldiers living and working at a nearby Cold War-era climate research station. What are they doing there? And who is leading them?
An electrifying page-turner where nothing is as it seems, Camp Zero cleverly explores how the intersection of gender, class, and migration will impact who and what will survive in a warming world.
"[A] stunning debut...Sterling's future is close enough to the present to be entirely recognizable, underlining this cleverly constructed climate fiction mystery with palpable terror: this world feels like one many readers could see within their lifetimes. This should earn a place on shelves alongside Station Eleven and Annihilation." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A love letter to what communities of women can accomplish when they work in concert." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"An enjoyable read for those who like eco-dystopian novels. Give this to fans of Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. —Library Journal
"Sterling vividly renders a harrowing near-future world ravaged by climate change while still offering hope through human connection and perseverance." —Booklist
"Camp Zero is a sui generis novel, boldly imagined, intricately designed, and convincingly detailed. Though set in the near future, it resonates with a palpable sense of reality and with the deep insights into some dimensions of the human condition, such as migrations, the burden of the past, environmental destruction, gender inequality, self-recreation. Page by page, the prose shines with subtle verbal artistry. This is groundbreaking literary work." —Ha Jin, National Book Award-winning author of Waiting
"In an equally tantalizing and terrifying tour de force, Michelle Min Sterling boldly remixes the realities of our present world, the danger we are in, and the fates we have settled for through a mesmerizing story of loyalty, deception, and ultimately love. Camp Zero's dark twists and bright turns left me breathless, hopeful, furious, and emboldened until the very end." —Nancy Jooyoun Kim, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Story of Mina Lee
"An exhilarating tale of survival set in a world of environmental decline, Camp Zero explores a future brimming with equal parts rage and resilience. Sterling's masterful debut transports readers to a frozen landscape where the intersections of class, gender, and climate change come to a head—and where women must rely on their own cunning to survive. This powerful, prescient story will haunt the reader's imagination long after the final page." —Laura Maylene Walter, author of Body of Stars
"Michelle Sterling has written a big, gutsy, and clear-eyed novel of the near future that neither lurches with dread nor swoons with false hope: it's a cold, hungry adventure story about the power of choice and the strength of solidarity. You won't be able to put it down." —Sean Michaels, Giller Prize-winning author of Us Conductors
This information about Camp Zero was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Michelle Sterling was born in British Columbia, Canada, and now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she teaches literature and writing at Berklee College of Music. She has an MFA from Boston University and has held writing fellowships at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Vermont Studio Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The Baffler, VICE, and Joyland. Michelle Sterling was born in British Columbia, Canada, and now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she teaches literature and writing at Berklee College of Music. She has an MFA from Boston University and has held writing fellowships at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Vermont Studio Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The Baffler, VICE, and Joyland. Camp Zero is her first novel.
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