pH: A Novel

In her recent book, pH: A Novel, Nancy Lord uses fiction to bring attention to the threat ocean acidification poses to marine systems and the people who depend on them.

When marine biologist Ray Berringer and his student crew embark on an oceanographic cruise in the Gulf of Alaska, the waters are troubled in more ways than one. Ray’s co-leader, the famed chemist Jackson Oakley, is abandoning ship just as the ocean’s decreasing pH levels are becoming a major concern for marine life. Helen, a grad student of Iñupiat (Eskimo) heritage, is suddenly left in charge of the cruise’s chemistry work. Annabel, an environmental artist along to help interpret research for the public, “does her own thing.” Back ashore, corrosion extends to the state university, and Ray’s “pteropod gang” finds itself collaborating on more than science.

You can learn more about the novel at writernancylord.com, through the short trailer below, and in the recent review by C.B. Santore published by the Washington Independent Review of Books.

The book is available for purchase online through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Or you can check if it is available at a bookstore near you or your local library.