All the Water in the World: A Novel

All the Water in the World is narrated by Nonie, a girl with a deep connection to water. After glaciers melt, Nonie's family and their researcher friends remain in a largely abandoned New York City, establishing a settlement on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History. They maintain a rule to take from the exhibits only when necessary, hunting and growing food in Central Park while working to preserve the collections of human history and science. When a superstorm breaches the city's flood walls, Nonie and her family flee north on the Hudson River, carrying a book documenting their records of the lost collections. As they travel the swollen river toward potential safety, they encounter communities that have adapted to the flooded world in strikingly different and sometimes dangerous ways. They remain committed to building a new world that honors what they have preserved. Inspired by the true stories of curators in Iraq and Leningrad who protected their collections during war, the novel combines meditation on what survives collapse with an adventure narrative featuring storms, danger, and survival struggles. It was a finalist for the 2026 Gotham Book Prize.