The Lost Cause (novel)
novel by Cory Doctorow
The Lost Cause is a 2023 social science fiction novel by Canadian writer Cory Doctorow, published by Tor Books.
The novel is set in near-future California, where rising seas, fires, and floods due to climate change have made millions homeless, and has caused a political sea-change in North America and Europe, shifting towards Green New Deal-style eco-socialism. Its story follows Brooks Palazzo and his friends, in conflict with his grandfather.
Plot
Set in a mid-21st-century Burbank, California, the novel follows 19-year-old Brooks Palazzo, a worker for the federal "Job Guarantee" program. The world is defined by "solarpunk" climate mitigation efforts like the "Miracle of Calgary"—a historical event where government spending and mass labor successfully rebuilt a destroyed city. However, these efforts are opposed by the "Magas", an older generation of climate deniers, and the "Plutes", billionaires living on sovereign offshore Flotillas.
The story begins when Brooks catches a family friend sabotaging the high school's solar panels. Following a fallout with his grandfather over the incident, Brooks is briefly kicked out, only to return and find his grandfather has died. While settling the estate, Brooks discovers a secret cellar containing illegal AR-15 rifles, gold Krugerrands, and a copy of The Walkaway—a "Plute"-funded propaganda novel that radicalizes the Magas by blending ideologies from Atlas Shrugged and The Turner Diaries.
Tension escalates when a caravan of climate refugees ("refus") arrives in Burbank.
The public source identifies “The Lost Cause (novel)” as novel by Cory Doctorow. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Lost, Cause and novel.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q124325347. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2023.
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