Playground

Powers is a master of taking important topics of our times – from threats to our oceans and climate change to AI – and turning them into riveting and fiercely relevant books imbued with psychological insight and a deep awe for nature. This eloquent dance of the scientific and emotional makes him one of our finest story tellers. PLAYGROUND is brilliant, captivating and important -- Andrea Wulf
Is there anything Richard Powers cannot write? The world here is complete, seductive, and promising. The writing feels like the ocean. Vast, mysterious, deep and alive -- Percival Everett
An extraordinarily immersive journey through lives linked in mysterious ways - gripping, alarming and uplifting -- Emma Donoghue
This ambitious, rapturous Booker-longlisted epic explores life underwater, generative AI, climate crisis and the power of play * Guardian *
Playground ... isn't merely a great American novel, but a magnificent one * i Newspaper *
Along with its environmental warnings, the book carries an intriguing look at the ways people and animals play, as in the boys’ competitive chess, the antics of manta rays, the allure of computer games, and what a meta-minded author might do with his readers. An engaging, eloquent message for this fragile planet. * Kirkus starred review *
Magisterial, moving and thought-provoking ... a beautiful love letter to our oceans * New Scientist *
A work of imaginative skill that opens doors into an undersea future where human exceptionalism isn't taken for granted, and finds hope where other writers, and thinkers, would dwell in despair * The Daily Telegraph *
'A compelling, eloquent love letter to what [Powers] calls this "fading" planet ... There is a lot going on in Playground, with reflections on power, nature and friendship in a book with well-drawn protagonists and graceful prose. It is a story that rewards a slow read for full immersement' * Independent *
Powerful, mesmerically beautiful * Mail on Sunday *