Elisabeth Easther

THE OVERSTORY, by Richard Powers

I read this Pulitzer Prize winner in 2020 and as soon I’d finished it I wanted to read it all over again because it touched my heart and blew my mind. It’s a multifaceted story that’s both vast and minute, featuring a diverse cast that includes humans, trees and the tiniest living organisms.

Nicholas Hoel is an artist whose Norwegian forebears move to Iowa where they plant a chestnut tree. Every month, a photograph is taken of the tree. A flipbook is eventually produced, depicting a hundred years of growth, but then a deadly blight strikes the tree.

Patricia is an academic whose research seeks to prove that trees are social, communicative organisms but she’s ridiculed for her hypothesis and exiles herself to the forest, far from academia. There are more individuals in the book, each worthy of their own introduction, who collectively heed the call to form an underground army of tree protectors.

The Overstory is a towering example of the power of literature to advocate for nature, because it is not just a bloody good read, it’s a call to action. It made me want to redouble my own efforts towards being a steward of nature. In part, The Overstory is why I have pushed ahead with my latest play, A Rare Bird, a work based on the life of Nelson-based ornithologist Pérrine Moncrieff, a woman who devoted her life to protecting New Zealand’s flora and fauna. ▮

A Rare Bird, written and performed by Elisabeth Easther, premieres at The Hamilton Arts Festival, in the Char Bagh Gardens of the Hamilton Gardens, March 2-3, hamiltonartsfestival.co.nz