Choosing a book to spotlight at the end of 2025 isn’t easy. We wanted one that reflected the year we’ve lived through and yet was gripping enough for readers to actually make time for it amid December’s endless distractions. A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar is that book. In just 200 pages, the award-winning climate-fiction novel imagines a world running out of water, food, and air. Though set in the future, it feels all too real in our AQI-obsessed world. P.S.: Beyond being Oprah-approved, it’s been shortlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize.
In an hour-and-a-half conversation with The Nod, Majumdar—who speaks as she writes, with precision, care, and mastery of language—discussed motherhood, the sorrow carried by emigrants, and life as it unfolds amid a climate crisis. Make your last read of 2025 count, Read more below.
