I’m a big fan of apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic stories so when I had the chance to listen to All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall, I jumped at it.

The premise was enticing, especially that it was being compared with Station Eleven, which I loved.

In this world of severe climate change, all the glaciers melt and the world is flooded. Nonie and her family stay behind in a mostly deserted New York City living on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History with a group of others intent on saving what they can of the museum. They grow their own food in Central Park.

When a superstorm hits, they are driven out of the city and travel meeting other groups of people, some good, and some very bad.

I can’t say I loved this story. It was just ok for me. It was slow for the most part and I wasn’t very connected to the characters. I did enjoy the survivalist parts of the climate / disaster apocalypse.

I did enjoy the narration of Eunice Wong. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for other books she’s performed.

*Thanks to partner MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the gifted audiobook.*

ALL THE WATER IN THE WORLD by Eiren Caffall
Publication: 1/07/2025 by St. Martin’s Press
Page Count: 304
Audio Version published by; Macmillan Audio
Narrator: Eunice Wong
8 hrs, 42 minutes



Amazing debut novel by Eiren Caffall that combines a dystopian climate change novel with a survival novel featuring love and hope and community in the face of mounting adversity.
Since the glaciers have melted, the world finds itself mostly under water. This griping tale of love and survival is seen through the eyes of precocious thirteen year-old Nonie. Her family takes refuge on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History (affectionately termed AMEN), where her mother was a researcher. Their mission was not only to survive, but preserve the knowledge of the museum for future generations and to sustain our culture. After several years of rooftop survival a super mega storm of epic proportions (termed a Hypercane) strikes New York City, wiping out any remaining dry land. Nonie , her sister Bix, along with her father and another scientist, Kellar, must abandon AMEN. Utilizing a hidden canoe they are forced to leave and travel northward, along the route of the previous Hudson River, to seek safety in the high ground of upper New York, at her mother’s family farm in Tyringham … hoping that it’s still there and secure. The journey is harrowing and fraught with danger from disease, illness, lack of medicine and avoiding other survivors who would murder, rape and maim in order to survive. The narrative is propelled poignantly by Nonie, as she outlines the differences between the “World That Was” and the “World That Is .”
Eiren Caffall proves to be a masterful storyteller, with her poetic prose, as she has the reader feeling the amazing resilience of hope and love in the face of mounting adversity. The terrifying journey is a celebration of human perseverance and the need for community and love. The audio version is narrated by Eunice Wong, award-winning actor and narrator. She has expertly interpreted over one-hundred titles. Her skills of an actor shines through in her voice inflections and range of emotional changes. She truly brought the tale to life in the “theatre of my mind.”
Thanks to NetGalley, St Martins’ Press and Macmillan Audio for providing an Uncorrected Proof and Advanced audio version in exchange for an honest review.

All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall is a YA novel that hits close to home with all the natural disasters happening. This is a dark book filled with sadness and a lot of emotion. But, there is hope and resilience and you cannot help but root for the characters. I would recommend this one to all who enjoy the genre. I also enjoyed that there was not a romance that you typically find in a YA novel. It is one that I had no problem recommending to my thirteen year old daughter.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for my gifted audiobook copy.

I loved the cover and the title of this book. It was an immediate one I had to pick up. I thought it was really well done and an interesting take on a dystopian future.

I wasn't a massive fan of this one.

The content just didn't tickle me where I needed it to. I am not a fan of cli-fi as it is and this one wasn't very exciting. I get it was the aftermath but it didn't have anything that stodd out. It wasn't the writing or narration, it was just the tone of the book. I needed more excitement. It was a bit monotone for my tastes.

A beautifully written story about survival, resilience, and the fight to preserve history in a post-apocalyptic world. The setting—a near-future, flooded New York City—felt vivid and haunting, and I loved how the book explored what we choose to save when everything else is lost. Atmospheric, thought-provoking, and gripping, *All the Water in the World* is a compelling mix of adventure and reflection.

I listened to the audio version of this book. The narrator did an excellent job bringing the story to live. The author wrote an excellent literary fiction novel. The characters and story line were both interesting and well done. The book uses water as a metaphor of how its is ever changing like the characters and her struggles throughout the book. I think it was well written, and I can't wait to read more from this author. I highly recommend this novel to the literary fiction readers.

Thank you Net Galley, Macmillian Audio, and Eiren Caffall

After the glaciers have melted, Nonie, her parents and sisters and a small group of researchers stay behind in New York City living in a settlement on top of the American Museum of Natural History. They become self reliant and use Central Park as a source of food while they work to save the collections of human history from the museum. When a superstorm reaches the city, they must escape North towards what they hope will be safety where they can keep preserved all that they have saved. This dystopian and climate-fiction unfortunately seems truer to a near reality every day, so in that aspect this was especially scary. Though Eiren Caffall's writing is very talented, this particular story just fell slightly flat for what could have been a true 5 star read.

All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall is an amazingly well written literary fiction novel which explores a topic that seems too possible in our future that leaves you with a feeling of unease throughout. MC Nonie has a strong connection with water. The book explores water as a symbol— mysterious, dangerous and ever-changing—mirroring the characters' internal struggles and menacing journey. The narrative is both tender and raw at times which contrasts the chaotic apocalyptic environment in which Nonie and her family are in, Definitely recommend!

"Literary Thriller" might be one of my new favorite genres! If you loved the movie The Day After Tomorrow, the pictures from that movie will be set in your mind while reading this book. I can definitely see this one becoming a movie one day. So good!

review submitted in error, will update when i have read this book, instead of pasting a review for the wrong book

If you want to know what it might be like to live in a future flooded world with almost constant rainstorms of different types, trying to survive with many threats and dangers along the way, this might be a good book for you to read. It is very well done, and it's easy to imagine oneself there.

To me, it was a nightmare. It was too realistic and didn't give me enough of a break from my current reality.

"All the Water in the World" by Eiren Caffall is about 13 year old, Noni, and her older sister, Bix, and their father, and a family friend named Keller. The story starts with them living on top of the American Museum of Natural History (nicknamed AMEN). Soon, a hypercane, a monster storm, comes and causes a lot of destruction, forcing them to head out in a boat to try to get from NYC to upstate Massachusetts, where there is family farm.

The audiobook is a bit over 8 hours long and well narrated by Eunice Wong in a serious and scared kind of voice.

I enjoyed this quote, "...for some people, things are harder, and they don't know it, but then also things are more beautiful because they're harder and they don't know that either."

Characters - 5/5
Writing - 4/5
Plot - 3/5
Pacing - 4/5
Unputdownability - 4/5
Enjoyment - 1/5
Narration - 4/5
Cover - 4/5
Overall - 29/8 = 3 5/8 rounded up to 4 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley, MacMillan Audio, and Eiren Caffall for providing this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall was both riveting and thought provoking. It was well written and well plotted. The characters balanced each other and yet maintained their own identities. All the Water in the World began in New York City’s Museum of Natural History on its roof. Before that, for a short period of time, it revolved around a family who had lived on Tenth Street, a family that consisted of a mother, father and two little girls. The first born daughter was named Beatrice but everyone called her Bix and the younger daughter was named Norah but everyone called her Nonie. That family had made their home on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History when storm after storm, some far worse than one before it, struck and made their home on Tenth Street unsafe, dangerous and uninhabitable. Nonie had been told that before she was even born, storms had already begun to affect “coastlines, glaciers, reefs, whole islands and cities”. It was a slow process but it had begun. The night the storm tide flooded the city was the night this family managed to get to the AMNH, the safest place that would become their home. Their plan to meet Aunt Clare and get to her farm was abandoned for then.

Nonie loved the water, much like her mother, but Bix was terrified of it ever since they escaped from Tenth Street. Bix and Nonie’s mother was dying. She had an inherited kidney disease with no cure. Things at AMNH had gone as well as they could have hoped for a number of years. Of course there was the Mosquito Borne that took many lives, hurricanes, tornadoes and N’oreasters. Sadly, their mother died. Then there was the hypercane, “the biggest kind of hurricane there could be.” This occurred when Bix was sixteen and Nonie was thirteen. With a canoe taken from AMNH, Bix, Nonie, their father and Keller, another researcher that had lived at AMNH with them, made their way to their Mother’s and Aunt Clare’s farm, Tyringham, their safe place if AMNH was ever compromised, north along the uncharted waters of the Hudson River. The only thing that they saved from AMNH was a logbook that documented their “records of lost collections”. What would they encounter as they maneuvered north along the Hudson River? Would they be able to reach the farm where their mother lived as a young girl? Could it become their new “safe place”?

All the Water in the World was an eye opening look at what the remnants of climate change, like melted glaciers, extensive flooding, more and more strong hurricanes and wildfires, could do to life as we knew it if left untouched. We are all guilty of feeling bad when natural disasters occur, but things are cleaned up, mended and replaced and life goes on without any real change. Not that the things that happened in All the Water in the World were an exact match to what we could expect someday but what if they were? More serious attention and action must be allocated to climate change and now!

All the Water in the World was told from Nonie’s POV. The chapters were short and therefore encouraged me to read more than I might have. It was hard to put this book down. I really enjoyed the characters in this book especially Nonie. How sad that this was the only world that she could remember. She had no recollection of how the world was before. I listened to the audiobook that was narrated by Eunice Wong and also read along in the book that I won in a goodreads giveaway.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to the audiobook of All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall through Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press through Goodreads in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I was really excited for this one, but in the end it just didn't vibe well with me I think.

The book follows Nonie, a young girl (I can't remember the exact age, but prepubescent) who is connected to water differently than others. The world has flooded, and Nonie, her family, and other survivors must navigate living in this new, lawless world.

The story itself has an interesting premise, but it was hard to stay connected with it. Nonie isn't an emotional main character. Every other chapter is a flashback chapter, which derails the pacing of the story a bit. I'm sure many people can enjoy this if these things won't bother them, but it just definitely wasn't one for me. I appreciate receiving an arc, and having a chance to review this.

Audiobook lovers know that Eunice Wong is a TOP TIER narrator. So imagine my excitement when I saw she was narrating this book being billed as The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler meets Station Eleven. I was jumping at the chance to read it. And it totally lived up to all of my self-built hype.

Stranded in New York amidst a climate catastrophe landscape, Nonie and her family live in New York, seeking safe haven in the Museum of Natural History and exploring Central Park to hunt for food. They want desperately to save the history and culture being swept away with each flood and storm. When disaster strikes, they are forced to flee their refuge, cataloging the collections and histories they left behind as they go.

This isn't a pulse-pounding thriller of a dystopian novel. It's quiet and contemplative about history and how it is made and of course about climate change. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of Children of Men. It's tone was somewhat distant and disconnected emotionally but it painted a powerful consideration of the future looming before us and how it might be experienced by the communities who only know that world.

Wong's narration of this story was absolutely perfect and I would highly recommend the audio version to prospective readers.

I’m sorry i had to dnf at like 35%. I did not like the choppy writing style, didn’t like any of the characters, and didn’t care about the plot so it didn’t work for me at all. I may have done this to myself bc it really isn’t the kind of book I’d normally like, but I thought it would be something powerful and different. Instead it fell flat.

I also was not a fan of the audiobook narrator which may have impacted me as well. The way they were calling the museum amen made me mad for literally no reason at all.

This was so wonderful. I really enjoyed this story--and think the comparisons to STATION ELEVEN are apt. It was atmospheric, evocative, and moving. I saw one review that said it started slow--but I was captivated from the beginning. I think it's character-driven and the world-building is lovely . 5 stars. One of my favorite reads of 2024.

Loved the concept of the book, a post-apocalyptic novel where the researchers are the leads and not put in a corner to ignore , but the slow character development and lack of initial world building made this a slog to get through. This is generally a genre I favor but this book is a miss for me. Stars rounded up for the premise.

Nonie lives in the American Museum of Natural History in New York because of the immense hurricane and other intense storms that have swept over the world. When a huge flood hits the museum, Nonie leaves with her sister Bix, their father and their family friend Keller. They are heading to their Aunt Clare’s house. On the way, they fight nature as the storms increase in strength and the wild and unknown. They try to stop for rest from the river and shelter from the rain but meet Lost, two men that only seem to want to harm. Father gets shot, Bix also gets shot and Keller gets pneumonia from jumping into the dirty river to rescue their boat from the strong currents. Will any of them survive?

“All the Water in the World” by Eiren Caffall is a reflective commentary on loss and the connection we have with the world. Through lyrical writing and vivid imagery, this story weaves together personal grief with the larger issue of how fragile our planet is.

What I liked about this listen was the poetic language and depth of emotion. It’s clear that the author poured a lot into this story and her reflections on water as both a life-giving source and life-taking force is beautiful.

I think if I had read this book instead of listened to it I would have rated it higher. I found the audiobook hard to follow along with, especially as we were jumping between what’s happened in the past and the present. I also found that the narrator could have been more engaging. It’s hard to rate the narrative from an audiobook perspective because while I didn’t think the listening experience was great I could see how the narrative on page could have worked.

I would definitely be interested in re-reading the physical copy at some point and seeing if it changed my opinions on the narrative.