I finished THE DISPLACEMENTS over a month ago, and I’m still processing this compelling novel about climate change, substance abuse, and race that also has a unique structure.

Within pages, the reader is pulled into the growing monster that is Luna, the world’s first category 6 hurricane. From subsequent interviews with survivors, dispersed throughout the story as part of “a digital chronicle of the Luna Migration,” we learn Luna will destroy the hearts of Miami and Houston, and displace millions. The displaced include members of the Larsen-Hall family.

When we meet the family in their luxurious Florida home, Luna is building her strength over the Atlantic. Daphne, her two kids, and her disaffected Stanford-dropout stepson manage to evacuate before their neighborhood is swallowed by the ocean, but the storm strips them of everything.

Cut off from two family members, they’re sent to a FEMA megashelter hundreds of miles inland. But the tension mounts and the twists keep coming as they focus on survival and navigate blow after shocking blow. I got sucked into their story and could not put this book down until I knew they were safe. Daphne, a gifted artist, is a character I would love to meet in real life.

The microcosm of American society in the shelter shows the best and the worst of humanity, but offers a universal message: “With the world as it is, all of this, we have to be kind.”

Sign me up for whatever Holsinger writes next!