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Birnam Wood

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Birnam Wood

By: Eleanor Catton
Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
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About this listen

Birnam Wood is on the move...

Five years ago, Mira Bunting founded a guerrilla gardening group: Birnam Wood. An undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic gathering of friends, this activist collective plants crops wherever no one will notice, on the sides of roads, in forgotten parks, and neglected backyards. For years, the group has struggled to break even. Then Mira stumbles on an answer, a way to finally set the group up for the long term: a landslide has closed the Korowai Pass, cutting off the town of Thorndike. Natural disaster has created an opportunity, a sizable farm seemingly abandoned.

But Mira is not the only one interested in Thorndike. Robert Lemoine, the enigmatic American billionaire, has snatched it up to build his end-times bunker - or so he tells Mira when he catches her on the property. Intrigued by Mira, Birnam Wood, and their entrepreneurial spirit, he suggests they work this land. But can they trust him? And, as their ideals and ideologies are tested, can they trust each other?

A gripping psychological thriller from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries, Birnam Wood is Shakespearean in its wit, drama and immersion in character. A brilliantly constructed consideration of intentions, actions, and consequences, it is an unflinching examination of the human impulse to ensure our own survival.

©2023 Granta Books (P)2023 Audible, Ltd.
Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Thriller & Suspense Fiction Exciting Scary Suspense
All stars
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This kept me interested, partly because it was well plotted but mostly because I was intrigued as to how technology can be used to survey and control us. Well worth listening to.

Quite gripping and an eye-opener

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Nicely plays with time via different character story lines but abrupt and unconvincing ending.

some interesting plot devices, abrupt ending

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Extraordinary care in vocabulary and detail in descriptive writing, spoilt by express shock ending. Curious.

Ultimately disappointing

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This is a hard start but so worth it!

I really enjoyed hearing the thoughts of the 5 main characters and how they each interpreted the situation and their reactions and plans.

A really fantastic plot and definitely worth a read.

The only reason it is a four star is the start was tedious and I think many people would give up reading.I almost did but having read some reviews I decided to keep going and I'm glad I did. It is a fantastic story.

Hard start but so worth it!

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Bear with this as the start is slow. There is no easy ending and the journey gets faster and suspenseful.

Good

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