Our House Is on Fire

Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis

By: Greta Thunberg, Svante Thunberg, Malena Ernman, Beata Ernman

Narrated by: Maya Lindh

"A must-read ecological message of hope . . . Everyone with an interest in the future of this planet should read this book." --David Mitchell, The Guardian

When climate activist Greta Thunberg was eleven, her parents Malena and Svante, and her little sister Beata, were facing a crisis in their own home. Greta had stopped eating and speaking, and her mother and father had reconfigured their lives to care for her. Desperate and searching for answers, her parents discovered what was at the heart of Greta’s distress: her imperiled future on a rapidly heating planet.

Steered by Greta’s determination to understand the truth and generate change, they began to see the deep connections between their own suffering and the planet’s. Written by a remarkable family and told through the voice of an iconoclastic mother, Our House Is on Fire is the story of how they fought their problems at home by taking global action. And it is the story of how Greta decided to go on strike from school, igniting a worldwide rebellion.

Critic reviews

"[Our House Is on Fire] feels like a new form of nonfiction, intimate and approachable as a photo album: a family memoir. . . . This is also a remarkable story of togetherness: a modern family shifting and pivoting to keep each person afloat." —The New Republic

“An urgent, lucid, courageous account. . . . [E]veryone with an interest in the future of the planet should read this book. It is a clear-headed diagnosis. It is a glimpse of a saner world. It is fertile with hope.” —The Guardian

"An extraordinary account of how one family rose, with unshakable moral clarity, to the tremendous responsibility of being alive at the moment when our immediate collective decisions will determine the fate of life on Earth. They share their story of courage not because they want our accolades, but because they demand our company. Greta Thunberg has already inspired a global moment--this book is part of how we will win." —Naomi Klein

“A surprisingly funny and optimistic book. Thunberg and her family might be screaming ‘FIRE’ on a crowded planet. But they believe we have the power to put that fire out if we act, right here, right now.” —The Telegraph (UK)

“A book about finding purpose as a route to recovery.” —Sunday Times (UK)

“This blazingly candid family memoir reveals the grueling and bewildering struggles that propelled Greta onto the world stage. . . . An unnerving and profoundly enlightening chronicle of the symbiosis between human and planetary health as manifest within one remarkable family whose painful awakening to our ‘acute sustainability crisis’ should embolden us all.” —Booklist, starred review

“An impassioned call to action and a vulnerable family portrait of neurodiversity.” —Kirkus

An Urgent Calling In

This book cuts sharply, deeply, and necessarily through all the noise and demands our urgent attention and action to not just the climate crisis, but also to the all of the social causes that impact oppressed and marginalized people globally. A must read/listen for everyone.

Absolute must read

Exquisitely written, perfectly performed. Wow. Everyone needs to hear it - everyone. And then, we should all be a little more like Greta in our daily lives. Thank you to Greta and family for writing this.

Disturbing and profound insight we need to hear

This was at times a hard book to deal with because of the brutally honest account of what is going on in our economically privileged but horrifically ignorant society of self inflicted damage - to individuals who are trying to make it in our society while our children show deeply troubling symptoms of the unjust and hectic societal dysfunction, and to the whole of humanity's hope to have a home planet we can live on for next generations. Politicians know but daren't be radical and many would rather deny the truths that children around the world are begging us to look at, and change. Take a step back from the untenable idea of endless economic growth and embrace the facts that scientists have been showing us for decades and we have minutes left to axt accordingly. Speak up. Stand up. It takes courage and love and humanity has that. You may need to read something lighter in between some of the chapters but it is not all preaching at all - it is also a daring personal account of one family's awakening and stumbling, floundering, determined and most loving search for and embracing of the strength we have inside, each in our very unique way, to live in harmony and integrity with our own nature.

Powerful

A family's desperate struggles to deal with the special needs of their kids, and their exhausting efforts to get healthcare and education systems to work with them.
Passion for the climate crisis and frustration with the world's lack of action.
The result is a bit scattered, but still, extremely important and touching messages.

The intersection of mental health and civic engagement.

The whole story surrounding the family and the mental health concerns was fascinating and added to the impact of understanding the climate crisis.