The Overstory

Nine Americans arrive at a shared concern for threatened forests through very different encounters with trees. Richard Powers brings these lives together in The Overstory, a novel about environmental activism and the relationship between people and the natural world. Its narrative moves beyond a single linear life story to connect the characters’ experiences.

First published in 2018, it was shortlisted for that year’s Booker Prize and won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Those results distinguish a Booker nomination from a Pulitzer win for the same book.