At midnight on New Year’s Day, 2049, the Exodus Clock begins its final countdown. By the end of the year, rising seas will force the citizens of the Bishop Islands—a tiny Pacific atoll nation—to abandon their homeland forever. Hazelmary Moore, a seventy-four-year-old retired schoolteacher, has spent her life teaching the history of a country now on the brink of extinction. As evacuation plans accelerate and global powers tighten their grip, Hazelmary uncovers a chilling truth: the fate of her people was long decided by forces far beyond their shores. Drawn into protests and a global climate activist movement, she risks everything to expose a conspiracy and secure a future for her loved ones. As the countdown continues, the Bishop Islands become a flashpoint in a widening geopolitical conflict, and Hazelmary—a careful observer of history—emerges as an unlikely symbol of resistance. Half a Million Minutes is a gripping, lyrical story of climate displacement, political power, and the courage it takes to fight for home and family as time runs out.
Praise for Half a Million Minutes
“Half a Million Minutes is nothing short of a triumph. What Schuitema manages to do here is something only a few of our most talented writers could even hope to achieve: simultaneously engage with our likely future while imparting necessary meaning for our present. This book has vision and heart and I will recommend it to everyone I know.”
—Jared Yates Sexton, author of The Midnight Kingdom
“Schuitema imagines the future with such a careful eye on the past. History and speculation meticulously braid together to form this timely novel’s tapestry. Within a maelstrom of climate disaster, political conspiracy, and violent colonization, this novel’s narrator Hazelmary grants heart to the chaos. Her voice is vividly earnest, loving yet cynical, curious and wise. Through this narrator, Schuitema finds the perfect window through which to tell the cataclysmic tale of islands disappearing. Schuitema is a master craftsman of finely sculpted plots and glimmering prose, but, best of all, he’s a writer who respects his characters deeply. His narrator and her community lend life to the fragile world we may be in danger of losing.”
—Dustin M. Hoffman, author of Such a Good Man
