Greenwood is centred around a pretty fascinating premise: what would happen if the majority of the trees on earth were wiped out by disease? The result is a world turned into a dust bowl, that destroys the lungs of anyone not rich enough to hide from it. The remaining trees (such as Greenwood Island) become places where the obscenely rich can visit and experience what is left of nature.

The central character is a young woman named Jack - a tour guide on the island. Severely in debt, her job is the only thing protecting her from life in a dust filled wasteland.

But we don’t spend a lot of time with her; the story suddenly jumps back, and the majority of the book follows Jack’s relatives and their history with Greenwood Island.

So much of the book is spent in the past that by the time we go back to Jack at the end, there really isn’t any emotional connection with her. The character fell flat, and her fate didn’t really interest me. The historical part was far more engaging.

And then there was the ending - it irritated me so much. Jack is supposed to be an intelligent woman, but she makes the most non-sensical choices that leaves everything worse off. So what was the point of having her at all?

If the story had just focused on the history of Greenwood, I would have rated it much higher. But as it is, I’ll have to give it a 2.5