Earth 7
Published June 9, 2026
An end-of-the-world love story, an epic full of pathos and humor, asking what can be saved of our planet
Two women meet on a beach of artificial sand. One was raised in a pod in the ocean and the other may or may not be a robot. Their love—or any love—seems so unlikely. Earth is severely depopulated, the planet reduced to not much more than a piece of burnt coal. Some people have given up, gone off to Mars. Others pursue eternal life as digital code. And yet others, like Dylan and Melanie, are holdouts—and some of those holdouts are constructing a vast molecular collection in hopes that a future person may be alive to make a new Earth. Foolhardy? Misguided? Quixotic? Probably. But what can a human (or a robot) do?
By the end of Unferth’s wild, poetic, revelatory, and slyly philosophical novel, the reader has traveled to the very edges of the cosmos as a “soul globule” and between grains of sand as a microscopic tardigrade. A slim book tackling big questions (is all matter conscious? will we tech ourselves into salvation, or out of existence?), Earth 7 is a poignant inquiry into death, mourning, and indefatigable life, the most exhilarating work to date by one of our most original and beloved writers.
“Unferth shines in her ability to craft relatable characters in extraordinary circumstances . . . [Earth 7] explores deep ontological questions about the nature of life. This is profound.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Unferth’s prodigious worldbuilding unfolds magically . . . . Profound, funny, alarming, and imbued with love and sorrow for our lost world. . . . [A] masterpiece of climate fiction.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Unferth follows her madcap present-day econovel, Barn 8 (2020), with a crystalline, poetic, witty, and haunting post-depopulation tale of loss, adaptation, unexpected beauty, and surpassing love. Every moment is enrapturing, every twist heart-seizing in this keenly imagined, ravishing, and profound celebration of life in extremis.”
—Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)
“Earth 7 is an epic sci-fi masterpiece and a love letter to the totally lush, and shockingly diverse, life-forms of our planet. I adore this book. Everyone who lives on planet Earth should read it.”
—Rita Bullwinkel, author of Headshot
“Is it a love story? A dystopian novel oddly suffused with brightness, tenderness, and philosophy? Is it sci-fi or realism? It’s all of these things, and it’s like no other book you’ve ever read, by a writer like no other.”
—Elizabeth McCracken, author of A Long Game
“I’m a Deb Olin Unferth stan forever—she is the master of the exacting and luminous. Earth 7 is the friend you want after the end of the world. It will reinvigorate your love for our planet.”
—Marie-Helene Bertino, author of Beautyland
“Deb Olin Unferth is one of my favorite writers, and Earth 7 confirms her talent for being one of the best storytellers working today. It is a brilliant feast of wisdom and imagination, virtuosic and urgent, full of humor and love. Don’t miss this beautiful, strange novel!”
—Brandon Hobson, author of The Devil Is a Southpaw
“With humor and unmatched imagination, Deb Olin Unferth writes about humanity in all its facets—our destructiveness and our failures, but our capacity for love, too (however imperfect). Exhilarating and original.”
—Rachel Khong, author of My Dear You and Real Americans
“An electric, hilarious, and harrowing story of fractured technological identities and interdimensional exile in a shattered future. With her signature absurd genius, Deb Olin Unferth has created a shocking and moving speculation that I suspect breaks new ground in climate fiction.”
—Jessica Anthony, author of The Most
“What a remarkable book! Having recently tried and failed to write about climate change in Earth’s far future myself, I know how hard a task Unferth has set for herself. Yet her story enfolds the reader like a dream—so much beauty, so much wisdom, such feats of imagination. I am in awe.”
—Karen Joy Fowler, author of Booth
“Earth 7 has knocked me out of kilter in all sorts of strange and haunting and wonderful ways. A work of desperate and loving imagination… Terrifying and life-affirming all at the same dizzying time.”
—Jon McGregor, author of Lean Fall Stand