“In the subterra, we place from very old what we fear and want to lose, and whatever we love and want to keep…” The Subterra is an epic exploration of the underworlds of the Earth as they appear in myth, literature, memory, and the earth itself. Robert Macfarlane takes us on an impressive journey through our relationship with darkness, burial, and the past and future of our planet.

Traveling through “deep time” – the dizzying expanses of geological time stretching far from the present – we move from the beginning of the universe to a post-human Earth, passing along the way through burial chambers of the Bronze Age, Parisian catacombs, melting glaciers in Greenland, “starless” rivers, and Arctic sea caves, underground networks of fungi through which trees communicate, and a deeply submerged “hideaway” designed for the storage of nuclear waste for 100,000 years.

Global in its geography and written with lyricism and power, The Subterra speaks in a robust voice about our current moment. From its exquisite opening pages to its deeply moving conclusion, it is a journey into wonder, loss, fear, and hope.

The Subterra marks a new turning point in Macfarlane's long-standing mapping of the relationships between landscape and the human heart. By combining elements of the distant past with what is urgent now, this book will change the way you see the world.

THEY WROTE ABOUT THE BOOK: The Subterra is undoubtedly Macfarlane's life work… A book rich and blessed with a breadth of knowledge akin to Sebald, literary grace reminiscent of Bruce Chatwin, vocabulary and syntax comparable to Patrick Leigh Fermor. One of the most significant non-fiction narratives of our time. WILLIAM DALRYMPLE, AUTHOR