In This Ravishing World is a sweeping, impassioned short story collection, ringing out with joy, despair, and hope for the natural world. Nine connected stories unfold, bringing together an unforgettable cast of dreamers, escapists, activists, and artists, creating a kaleidoscopic view of the climate crisis. An older woman who has spent her entire life fighting for the planet sinks into despair. A young boy is determined to bring the natural world to his bleak urban reality. A scientist working to solve the plastic problem grapples with whether to have a child. A ballet dancer endeavors to inhabit the consciousness of a rat. In This Ravishing World is a full-throated chorus—with Nature joining in—marveling at the exquisite beauty of our world, and pleading, raging, and ultimately urging all of its inhabitants toward activism and resistance.

Praise for In This Ravishing World

"In this ravishing book, you will find stories that lift your heart and stories that break it.  Powerfully beautiful and beautifully powerful, Schuyler has written exactly the book this moment needs." 

—Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author.

“In This Ravishing World also won The Prism Prize for Climate Literature. The judge for that contest wrote: three pages into reading this fascinating book, I knew it was the clear winner of the third annual Prism Prize for Climate Literature that I sponsor through Homebound Publications. Not only does it cover every facet of the climate issue and the ongoing efforts at dealing with or denying/undermining what needs to be done, Nature’s presence embraces the entire narrative and lends a sense of enchantment. Riveted, I could barely put it down for the three days it took to read the compelling stories of a diverse cast of characters: there is someone in these pages for every reader to relate to. Hooked by the older woman in the opening pages who was exhausted and discouraged after years of climate effort, and eagerly following her through to the final pages’ plausible outcome, I applaud and admire Nina’s skill at creating characters and plot that pull readers into climate awareness, while simultaneously acknowledging those of us who have tried to move the needle through non-fiction offerings. This book made me laugh and cry, and gave me a ray of hope.”

—Gail Collins-Ranadive, author of Dinosaur Dreaming, Our Climate Moment

“A wildly inventive plot that keeps you turning pages, characters who steal your heart, big ideas that engage your mind, and gorgeous prose that delights your senses.”

—Ellen Sussman, New York Times bestselling author

“With a surgeon’s precision, Ms. Schuyler has written another exemplary story.”

—Devi S. Laskar, author of The Atlas of Reds and Blues and Circa

“With astonishing dexterity and deep empathy, Schuyler takes the readers on a capacious journey with people from all walks of life: environmentalists, families, children, dancers, workers, hackers, and many more. Her spellbinding prose and unflinching vision overwhelms me with contrition for our prodigal past, trepidation for our fraught present, and hope for our perilous future on Mother Earth.”

—Yang Huang, author of My Good Son and My Old Faithful

“In This Ravishing World is a magnificent story of hope and despair, love and fear, and the ongoing quest for personal and planetary survival. Both scientifically accurate and emotionally compelling, this book is necessary, timely, and wise.”

— Lucille Lang Day, author of Birds of San Pancho and Other Poems of Place and coeditor of Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California