
©Nancy Macdonald
Cal Flyn
Cal Flyn is a writer, journalist and the deputy editor of Five Books. She writes for The Guardian and Granta, among others. Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape, her nonfiction book about how nature rebounds in abandoned places, was shortlisted for numerous awards including the Baillie Gifford Prize, the Ondaatje Prize and the Wainwright Prize for writing on global conservation. She was named the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year in 2022.
She writes regular round-ups of the most notable new fiction, which can be found here. Her Five Books interviews with other authors are here. Follow her on Twitter: @calflyn.
Books by Cal Flyn
Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape
by Cal Flyn
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn's second work of nonfiction, Islands of Abandonment, is a book about abandoned places: ghost towns and exclusion zones, no man’s lands and post-industrial hinterlands – and what happens when nature is allowed to reclaim its place. Exploring extraordinary places where humans no longer live – or survive in tiny, precarious numbers – Islands of Abandonment give us a glimpse of what nature gets up to when we’re not there to see it. 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.
Thicker Than Water
by Cal Flyn
The debut work of narrative nonfiction by Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn examines colonialism, intergenerational guilt and violence on the Australian frontier through the life story of her distant relative: an explorer, pioneer and leader of several atrocities against the Gunaikurnai Aboriginal group native to Gippsland, Australia.
Interviews with Cal Flyn
The Best Novels of 2023: The Booker Prize Shortlist, recommended by Cal Flyn
Every year, the judges for the Booker Prize read more than a hundred books that have been submitted by their publishers in the hope of being recognised by one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards. The 2023 shortlist features a novel-in-stories, an Irish dystopia, and plenty of family drama.
Notable Novels of Fall 2023, recommended by Cal Flyn
Outside it’s autumnal and the nights are drawing in. All the better for admiring the bright lights of publishing’s starriest season, when the shiniest baubles are released in time for the Christmas rush. Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn rounds up the most notable new novels of Fall 2023, including eagerly-awaited books from Zadie Smith and Jesmyn Ward, plus the buzziest new releases in literary fiction and novels-in-translation
Notable Memoirs of 2023, recommended by Cal Flyn
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn selects the best recent autobiographical writing in this round-up of notable memoirs of 2023—taking in new work from such literary giants as Janet Malcolm and Annie Ernaux, the writer other writers are raving about, and a humorous debut depicting life in a haunted antiquarian bookshop.
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1
In The Shadow of the Mountain
by Silvia Vasquez-Lavado -
2
High: A Journey Across the Himalaya, Through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, and China
by Erika Fatland, translated by Kari Dickson -
3
Crossed Off the Map: Travels in Bolivia
by Shafik Meghji -
4
The Slow Road to Tehran: A Revelatory Bike Ride through Europe and the Middle East
by Rebecca Lowe -
5
The Po: An Elegy for Italy's Longest River
by Tobias Jones
The Best Travel Books of 2023: The Stanford Travel Writing Awards, recommended by Cal Flyn
The Best Travel Books of 2023: The Stanford Travel Writing Awards, recommended by Cal Flyn
Every year, Stanfords, the best travel bookshop in the world (in our view), sponsors the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards, with travel writers and journalists judging the best travel book in a number of categories. Here Cal Flyn, our deputy editor, takes us through the eight books shortlisted for the 2023 ‘Travel Book of the Year’ award, taking us from Bolivia to Singapore via Europe, the Middle East and the top of Mt. Everest.
The 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlist, recommended by Cal Flyn
Every year, the Women’s Prize for Fiction highlights the best novels written by women over the previous twelve months. In 2023, the six-strong Women’s Prize shortlist features the latest books by beloved bestsellers Barbara Kingsolver and Maggie O’Farrell, plus a debut novel set during the siege of Sarajevo and a book told primarily from the point of view of a dolphin.
The Best Historical Fiction: The 2023 Walter Scott Prize Shortlist, recommended by Cal Flyn
Every year, the judges for the Walter Scott Prize highlight the best new historical fiction. In 2023, the shortlisted books include a slow-burn mystery set in colonial Australia and a thrilling new novel from the author of Fatherland. Cal Flyn, our deputy editor, takes us through the seven books that are set 60+ years in the past and yet speak to the present.
Notable Novels of Summer 2023, recommended by Cal Flyn
New novels are piling up ready for summer 2023—but which of them should go straight to the top of your reading list? Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn offers a round-up of some of the most notable fiction titles of the season, including eagerly anticipated novels from Emma Cline and Naoise Dolan, plus a fictionalised account of the making of a blockbuster movie by Tom Hanks.
The Notable Novels of Spring 2023, recommended by Cal Flyn
Spring is always an excellent time for literary fiction releases, and 2023 is no exception. Here, Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn offers a round-up of the notable new novels of the season, from buzzy debuts to hotly anticipated new releases from internationally acclaimed authors like Eleanor Catton, Han Kang, and Salman Rushdie.
Editor’s Choice: Our 2022 Novels of the Year, recommended by Cal Flyn
Author and Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn highlights her favourite novels of 2022—from Jennifer Egan’s highly anticipated follow-up to the multi-award-winning A Visit From the Goon Squad, to a debut novel by a twenty-something writer who gave voice to cancer, literally.
Award-Winning Novels of 2022, recommended by Cal Flyn
Any end-of-year list is necessarily partial; no one person could hope to read every novel published in the English language in any given year. That’s why prize lists are so useful for guiding the casual reader’s literary diet. Here, our deputy editor Cal Flyn offers a brief round-up of the books that ruled victorious during the 2022 awards season.
Notable New Novels of Fall 2022, recommended by Cal Flyn
Fall is a busy time in publishing, as the biggest names in fiction prepare to release new books in the months leading up to Christmas. Here, Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn rounds up some of the most notable novels of Fall 2022—including two new books from the great American novelist Cormac McCarthy and a sumptuous work of historical fiction from Maggie O’Farrell.
The Notable Novels of Summer 2022, recommended by Cal Flyn
If you’re looking for a new book to keep you entertained or intellectually excited over the summer break, we’ve got you covered. Five Books’ deputy editor Cal Flyn offers a round-up of the notable new novels of summer 2022, from snappy debuts and fantasy epics to the latest book from the most recent recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Notable Novels of Spring 2022, recommended by Cal Flyn
If you’re nervous of what 2022 has in store for us, you’re not alone. But at least there will be plenty of excellent new books to read. Here, Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn offers a round-up of the notable novels of spring 2022, including exciting new work from Sheila Heti, Ali Smith and Marlon James.
The Best Novels of 2021, recommended by Cal Flyn
It’s been another vintage year for fiction. As book sales continue to soar, Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn talks us through her personal highlights: the best new novels to be released in 2021. Her recommendations include a workplace comedy that unfolds through the medium of Slack, a “darkly sardonic” story of a 17th-century witch trial, and a witty novel-of-ideas examining trans parenthood.
Notable Novels of Fall 2021, recommended by Cal Flyn
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn offers a round-up of the notable novels that need to be on your literary radar in Fall 2021, including the hotly anticipated new book from Sally Rooney—set to dominate bestseller lists in the coming weeks—as well as eagerly awaited follow-ups from Richard Osman and Elizabeth Strout, and a return to more traditional fiction from Karl Ove Knausgård.
Notable New Novels of Summer 2021, recommended by Cal Flyn
Foreign holidays are still looking unlikely for most of us this summer, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be able to find a spot in a park or garden to relax in the sun with a good book. Here, author and Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn highlights some of the most notable new novels of summer 2021 to help you narrow down your reading options.
The best books on Abandoned Places, recommended by Cal Flyn
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn selects five of the best books on abandoned places, including a cultural history of ruins, an account of natural recovery in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, plus two unsettling works of science fiction. Her own book, Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape, is out now.
Notable Novels of Spring 2021, recommended by Cal Flyn
Fiction fans can expect “an embarrassment of riches” in spring 2021, according to Cal Flyn, deputy editor of Five Books and author of the forthcoming Islands of Abandonment. From buzzed-about debuts to the latest novel from the Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro, we are spoilt for choice this season.
Favourite Novels of 2020, recommended by Cal Flyn
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn selects her favourite novels from among those published in 2020: the year of the lockdown, a time when many of us found escapism and solace between the covers of a book. Her own book, Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape, a work of literary nonfiction, is out in January.
Very Short Books You Can Read In A Day, recommended by Cal Flyn
Talked a lot of big talk about writing that novel in lockdown, or repainting the house? Us too. When it came down to it, many of us have felt too frantic to take on big projects – and that goes for our reading lives too. Here, Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn recommends some very short books that might be read over the course of a day or, being small and easily surmountable, might just break a reading drought.
Editors’ Picks: Notable Novels of Fall 2020, recommended by Cal Flyn
After coronavirus-induced chaos threw publishing schedules out of whack earlier this year, fall 2020 is shaping up to be a bumper book season. But with hundreds of new titles flooding onto the shelves, it can be hard to identify those that are most deserving of your time. Here, Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn highlights some of the most anticipated new novels of the coming weeks.
Notable Novels of Summer 2020, recommended by Cal Flyn
No writer could resent you losing track of the new novels being published into the chaos of summer 2020 – with the world on lockdown and protestors taking to the streets. But fiction can offer respite from a relentless news cycle, writes Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn – and an opportunity to consider our own lives and choices through the prism of others’.
Editors’ Picks: Notable New Novels of Early 2020, recommended by Cal Flyn
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn rounds up the most hotly anticipated new novels of early 2020, including the final instalment in Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy and new work from the authors of Dept. of Speculation, Eileen and Station Eleven.
Editors’ Picks: Notable Books of 2019, recommended by Cal Flyn
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn reflects on a year of spectacularly rich literary output, highlighting notable new books from Mary Gaitskill and Robert Macfarlane, as well as sparkling debuts that mark the arrival of exciting new literary voices in 2019.
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1
The Living Mountain
by Nan Shepherd -
2
The Water Cure
by Sophie Mackintosh -
3
The Dark Stuff: Stories from the Peatlands
by Donald S Murray -
4
Inheritors of the Earth: How Nature is Thriving in an Age of Extinction
by Chris D Thomas -
5
Kings of the Yukon: An Alaskan River Journey
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6
Crudo: A Novel
by Olivia Laing
Editors’ Picks: Highlights From a Year in Reading, recommended by Cal Flyn
Editors’ Picks: Highlights From a Year in Reading, recommended by Cal Flyn
Author, journalist and Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn looks back on her favourite books read this year.
Interviews where books by Cal Flyn were recommended
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1
Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955
by Harald Jähner & Shaun Whiteside (translator) -
2
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
by Patrick Radden Keefe -
3
Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape
by Cal Flyn -
4
Things I Have Withheld
by Kei Miller -
5
Fall: The Mysterious Life and Death of Robert Maxwell, Britain's Most Notorious Media Baron
by John Preston -
6
Free: Coming of Age at the End of History
by Lea Ypi
The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize Shortlist, recommended by Kathryn Hughes
The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize Shortlist, recommended by Kathryn Hughes
Every year the judges of the Baillie Gifford Prize pick out the very best nonfiction books, the shortlist they come up with a brilliant way to find gripping books to immerse yourself in. Here cultural historian Kathryn Hughes, one of this year’s judges, talks us through the six books they chose for the 2021 shortlist, books that will draw you in, whatever the subject.
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1
Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape
by Cal Flyn -
2
Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own
by Eddie S Glaude Jr -
3
Neither Settler nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities
by Mahmood Mamdani -
4
Waves Across the South: A New History of Revolution and Empire
by Sujit Sivasundaram
The 2021 British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding, recommended by Patrick Wright
The 2021 British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding, recommended by Patrick Wright
Through careful research and compelling argument, the books shortlisted for the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding cast light on globally significant problems, says Patrick Wright, chair of the 2021 jury and Emeritus Professor of Literature, History and Politics at King’s College London. Here he talks us through the books that made the 2021 shortlist, works of nonfiction that “speak directly to the urgent challenges of the times in which we live”.
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1
A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future
by David Attenborough & Jonnie Hughes -
2
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
by Merlin Sheldrake -
3
Fathoms: The World in the Whale
by Rebecca Giggs -
4
Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape
by Cal Flyn -
5
Net Zero: How We Stop Causing Climate Change
by Dieter Helm -
6
Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future
by Elizabeth Kolbert
The Best Conservation Books of 2021, recommended by Charlotte Smith
The Best Conservation Books of 2021, recommended by Charlotte Smith
Many of us are increasingly alarmed at the damage human beings have done—and continue to do—to the natural world and would love to be better informed about what we need to do to protect our precious environment. Fortunately, every year, the Wainwright Prize picks out the best writing on global conservation—books that are not only informative but highly readable. Here, British journalist Charlotte Smith, chair of the judging panel, talks us through the books that made the 2021 shortlist and why it’s worth reading all of them.