Cal Flyn

Sunday Times: Årets beste unge forfatter 2021 På en for lengst forlatt øy utenfor den nordligste spissen av Skottland lever noen av de siste ville kyrne i verden. Et frodig og variert dyreliv har gjenoppstått i de bestrålte områdene rundt Tsjernobyl. I den smale demilitariserte sonen på den koreanske halvøya lever det tusenvis av arter som er utryddet eller truet overalt ellers på jorda. Den anerkjente journalisten og forfatteren Cal Flyn besøker jordas mest øde og uhyggelige steder, som på grunn av krig, naturkatastrofer, forurensning eller økonomisk forfall har blitt forlatt av mennesker. Hver gang finner hun en «øy» med et myldrende nytt liv: naturen har rykket inn for å fylle tomrommet raskere og grundigere enn selv de mest håpefulle anslagene til forskerne. Rik på detaljerte skildringer av natur og økosystemer i ulike tilstander, er Forlatte steder en poetisk og trollbindende reiseskildring som gir oss troen på naturens egenartede evne til å rehabilitere seg gjennom økologiske prosesser, selv etter grove inngrep fra menneskene.

Sunday Times: Årets beste unge forfatter 2021 På en for lengst forlatt øy utenfor den nordligste spissen av Skottland lever noen av de siste ville kyrne i verden. Et frodig og variert dyreliv har gjenoppstått i de bestrålte områdene rundt Tsjernobyl. I den smale demilitariserte sonen på den koreanske halvøya lever det tusenvis av arter som er utryddet eller truet overalt ellers på jorda. Den anerkjente journalisten og forfatteren Cal Flyn besøker jordas mest øde og uhyggelige steder, som på grunn av krig, naturkatastrofer, forurensning eller økonomisk forfall har blitt forlatt av mennesker. Hver gang finner hun en «øy» med et myldrende nytt liv: naturen har rykket inn for å fylle tomrommet raskere og grundigere enn selv de mest håpefulle anslagene til forskerne. Rik på detaljerte skildringer av natur og økosystemer i ulike tilstander, er Forlatte steder en poetisk og trollbindende reiseskildring som gir oss troen på naturens egenartede evne til å rehabilitere seg gjennom økologiske prosesser, selv etter grove inngrep fra menneskene.

A beautiful, lyrical exploration of the places where nature is flourishing in our absence " Flyn] captures the dread, sadness, and wonder of beholding the results of humanity's destructive impulse, and she arrives at a new appreciation of life, 'all the stranger and more valuable for its resilence.'" --The New Yorker Some of the only truly feral cattle in the world wander a long-abandoned island off the northernmost tip of Scotland. A variety of wildlife not seen in many lifetimes has rebounded on the irradiated grounds of Chernobyl. A lush forest supports thousands of species that are extinct or endangered everywhere else on earth in the Korean peninsula's narrow DMZ. Cal Flyn, an investigative journalist, exceptional nature writer, and promising new literary voice visits the eeriest and most desolate places on Earth that due to war, disaster, disease, or economic decay, have been abandoned by humans. What she finds every time is an "island" of teeming new life: nature has rushed in to fill the void faster and more thoroughly than even the most hopeful projections of scientists. Islands of Abandonment is a tour through these new ecosystems, in all their glory, as sites of unexpected environmental significance, where the natural world has reasserted its wild power and promise. And while it doesn't let us off the hook for addressing environmental degradation and climate change, it is a case that hope is far from lost, and it is ultimately a story of redemption: the most polluted spots on Earth can be rehabilitated through ecological processes and, in fact, they already are.

THE SUNDAY TIMES’ BESTSELLER AND SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER OF THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT CONSERVATION AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE This is a book about abandoned places: ghost towns and exclusion zones, no man’s lands and fortress islands – and what happens when nature is allowed to reclaim its place. In Chernobyl, following the nuclear disaster, only a handful of people returned to their dangerously irradiated homes. On an uninhabited Scottish island, feral cattle live entirely wild. In Detroit, once America’s fourth-largest city, entire streets of houses are falling in on themselves, looters slipping through otherwise silent neighbourhoods. This book explores the extraordinary places where humans no longer live – or survive in tiny, precarious numbers – to give us a possible glimpse of what happens when mankind’s impact on nature is forced to stop. From Tanzanian mountains to the volcanic Caribbean, the forbidden areas of France to the mining regions of Scotland, Flyn brings together some of the most desolate, eerie, ravaged and polluted areas in the world – and shows how, against all odds, they offer our best opportunities for environmental recovery. By turns haunted and hopeful, this luminously written world study is pinned together with profound insight and new ecological discoveries that together map an answer to the big questions: what happens after we’re gone, and how far can our damage to nature be undone? More praise for Islands of Abandonment ‘Extraordinary … Just when you thought there was nowhere left to explore, along comes an author with a new category of terrain … Dazzling’ SPECTATOR ‘A haunting look at how nature fights back … Beautiful, evocative’ SUNDAY TIMES ‘Flyn’s brave, thorough book sets out to explore places where angels fear to tread … The result is fascinating, eerie and strange … There is some thrilling writing here’ KATHLEEN JAMIE, NEW STATESMAN ‘Wonderful’ ADAM NICOLSON ‘Exhilarating’ DAILY TELEGRAPH

THE SUNDAY TIMES' BESTSELLER AND SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT BOOK OF THE YEARWINNER OF THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARDSHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZESHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT CONSERVATION AWARDSHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE

Cal Flyn was very proud when she discovered that her ancestor, Angus McMillan, had been a pioneer of colonial Australia. However, when she dug deeper, she began to question her pride. McMillan had not only cut tracks through the bush, but played a dark role in Australia's bloody history.