It's 2050, a changed world, and the River Rhone has flooded the town of Arles in France. Helen and Isha leave to join their daughter and eleven-month-old granddaughter, Ayo, in England.
In Calais, Isha, who has Ugandan-Asian ancestry, is told that new rules mean she will be immediately deported if she crosses the Channel. Faced with a terrible dilemma, Helen chooses to stay with her. Homeless and stateless, they seek refuge in a friend's Swiss mountain chalet, but to get there, they must avoid main roads and immigration checkpoints. They decide to walk along the Via Francigena, an ancient pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome, now also the preferred escape corridor for climate refugees fleeing north.
Jana resolves to follow them, but this is not a simple decision. The family communicates whenever and however they can while battling exhaustion, terror and the virulent xenophobia of people struggling to protect their increasingly scarce resources.
Their journey does not end in Switzerland...
An incredibly good read.. both deeply personal and political, it will become part of the canon of climate novels... its tone is set somehwere between Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry for the Future and Barbara Kingsolver's Unsheltered.
- Rehad Desai, director Miners Shot Down, How to Steal A Country and Everything Must Fall
Future Imperfect skilfully weaves together themes of environmental change but it is not a dystopian novel, rather a story of endeavour. Future Imperfect will make you reflect on the choices we make today and the impact they will have on our future.
- Kumi Naidoo, human rights and climate justice advocate
This is one of those rare books that becomes a part of you.
- Terry Shakinovsky, author of Knock on the Door
