Crocosmia

by Miranda Mellis

A revelatory novel (or parable) of art, adventure, and radical politics, set in a world on the precipice.

A philosophical fable, Crocosmia centers on Maya as she recollects the “great turning”—a moment of radical social and ecological change effected in part by the art of her mother, Jane. As Maya recalls her upbringing—from a commune run by anarchist nuns to a time of rural isolation before her mother’s disappearance—Mellis’s prose gorgeously conjures a life defined by revolutionary thought and action and the interplay and tension between family life and political commitment. At once a fantasy, a handbook to political thought, and a work of eco-fiction, this lush novel meditates on how, in a world on the precipice, dreams of communal care can bloom.

Genres: Fiction, Literature

176 pages, Paperback

Published August 5, 2025

Reviews

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crocosmia is a bright, hardy flower that appears in damaged landscapes. This story—centered on a fantasy of killing all the patriarchal “heads of state” at once and then patiently describing how a post-capitalist society might repair and reorganize itself—hits a philosophical, fable-like register. Mellis’s prose is lush and often incantatory, blending political theory with speculative worldbuilding and associative “architectures,” so that reading it feels both elliptical and conceptually dense. In that sense the characters are almost deliberately forgettable; they function less as psychologically rounded individuals than as emblems, voices, and positions within the larger visionary argument about abolitionist politics, ecological remediation, and the liberation of consciousness. Does it work for me? Not really. But I admire it anyway.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF - I really wanted to like this book, but found it painfully pretentious and couldn't get through it.

[Philip Bowers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretentious word salad.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

“One pocket of soil home to millions of organisms. Where we do not see them there are the animalcules, repairing invisibly in opaque boiling vents of the world-garden. All forms are linked. A knee is like a muscled bend in a hillside. A tightness in the bone grown brittle is like a branch on its way to being a stick, everything aging together, all the time. The ravine’s erosion mirrored the decay of her own memories.”

This politically dreamy novel imagines a post-capitalist society after its heads of state have been decapitated. Maya recalls her upbringing by her artist/activist mother, Jane, as well as Jane’s role in this “great turning” of society, as they move from a commune run by anarchist nuns to a more rural isolation. It’s more philosophical fable than story with a plot and character focus, meant to ask thought-provoking questions; what can bloom in the aftermath of a patriarchal, capitalist rule? What does it look like to live a life of political action?

“Thoughts are events, and they cause events as ceaseless and countless as a teeming anthill - thoughts projected; thought projects. Some people come together and turn their shared thoughts into social ideals. They project their thoughts into the world with so much force that the world is forever altered. Others, like me, hold onto a single thought and see everything through that prism.”

There are people who talk a lot about ideas and stop short of acting on them, and here, Mellis builds a world that shows a result of acting on (apparently) radical ideas. A landscape of communal living that is possible when wealth and power are taken away. A social fantasy born out of political action instead of just political thought. A suggestion of becoming ungovernable (a tree avoids logging because of its inconvenient, swerving growth, and a deck is instead built around it).

“Jane had cast herself into the gyres of transformation, the key to which was not redistribution of wealth and the abolition of work, but the reverse: the redistribution of work and the abolition of wealth.”

The patriarchal heads of state, decapitated and displayed, represent not only a dismantling of power but a refusal by the many to be under the thumb of their wealth and power. In another radical imagining, it abolishes that wealth and power entirely and builds from what is left. And for sure, human nature and all the ugly things it harbors is left. But also community alongside any loneliness.

I got lost in the philosophy sometimes. There’s nothing super complex, but I struggled to see the path of these ideas. Maybe there were too many paths, at times, maybe the book is sometimes too much of a vehicle for its ideas and little more. Maybe I just don’t like parables enough. The prose also gets in its own way in places, thus severing greater engagement. But it’s a good, short read, for what it is.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Self-indulgent word salad

[zainab · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this book is the type that has so much it can’t be appreciated on the first read; I certainly did not. I knew it was because of certain concepts I didn’t understand, and this book appears light but really requires in depth analysis. Maybe on a reread I may score it higher.

[Jacob Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

“They built a deck around a cedar hundreds of years old with a swerving trunk, a “leave” tree spared from logging because of its inconvenient sway, unconducive to milling, too wildly grained, giving a lesson in how to escape the predations of industry.”

[Melanie Domenech Rodríguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a great book club book. It was not an easy read but there is lots of great fodder for discussion.

Crocosmia provides a vision for a radical future where humanity is able to survive the ravages of late-stage capitalism. Whether you consider the new order utopian or dystopian will be up to you. And although the social order has shifted and people are more connected than ever, Maya (we?) cannot escape the ultimate existential loneliness. Maya (we?) is trapped within herself limited by her perceptions and understandings; limited by her narrative.

[Ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is idea rich and character/plot poor — but that’s the point. If you allow the premise to work (that this is a work of fiction meant to convey a set of political/philosophical points, rather than a work of fiction meant to explore characters and their relationships, etc.) then you allow the book to work. If you think that you want the mother/daughter relationship to be more emotionally resonant, then you’re not taking the work as it is clearly meant to be read and you’ll be disappointed. The emotional weight of Maya and Jane’s relationship is itself one more point the author is making.

I liked this book in particular because I am just sick of dystopian fiction which envision the world either in or post-Armageddon or in a dire situation that needs saving. Instead it envisions that we move away from our non-fiction dystopian reality and what politics may look like in such a world. What kind of politics and political action do we need to create the world of our shared aspirations?

Interesting, well-sourced (the bibliography at the end offers great further reading) and idea-heavy, the author offers us a world to envision.

[Mason Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Genuinely what is this book even trying to say. It goes from “private property doesn’t exist” to “beheading world leaders for the revolution” to “video games are bad” within five pages of each other

[Aurelia Hulls · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crocosmia is such an unusual book, and I mean that in the best possible way. From the beginning, I felt like I was stepping into a world that was both familiar and completely strange, where family, politics, art, and the environment are all tangled together.

What I enjoyed most was the way Maya’s memories slowly reveal the world she grew up in. The commune of anarchist nuns, the isolation of her rural childhood, and the mystery surrounding her mother’s disappearance all give the story this dreamlike quality. There’s a constant feeling that something bigger is happening beneath the surface.

I also really appreciated the relationship between art and political change throughout the story. Jane’s art isn’t simply something beautiful, it becomes part of a larger vision of how society might change. That made the book feel much bigger than a conventional family story.

Some parts are definitely more philosophical and unconventional, but I found myself enjoying that aspect. Crocosmia feels like a book that wants you to sit with its ideas rather than rush through them. The questions about community, ecological responsibility, radical change, and what we owe one another stayed with me after reading.

It’s imaginative, strange, political, and deeply thoughtful. I went into it expecting a novel, but came away feeling like I had experienced something closer to a philosophical journey wrapped inside a story. Definitely a memorable read.

[Caleb Michael Sarvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miranda Mellis is clearly interested in politics, and language, and the politics of language. There's a clear thesis here that all of our beliefs (social and spiritual) stem from an evolution of semantics, which is interesting, certainly.

The framing of the story, in which seven heads of state are simultaneously beheaded and giant flowers grow in their place, is fantastic. Amazing stuff.

It falls a little short for me because the emotional heft wasn't quite there. In all its ideas and concerns for humanity, I didn't engage emotionally as I like to do with a text.

[Rose]

Put me down with those who wanted to love this book, but just couldn't do it. Word salad is maybe a little harsh, but each paragraph is a chaotic tumble of loosely connected words. There is also a disconcerting combination of naive earnestness and a callous, burn-it-all down mentality I'm used to finding in very young online groups where "guillotine the billionaires" is a serious, primary policy proposal. I am afraid I will not be continuing with this one.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I obtained an ARC of Crocosmia from the independent bookstore where I work.

[amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hopeful story about a more cooperative, more ecological approach to human society that emerges after the "Great Turning." Told mainly through exposition and summary, so very slow moving.

[Audrey Bauman · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Perhaps impossible problems required imaginary means.”

[Elliot Wells · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s a dictionary

[Ruben L · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Trippy, magical, philosophical, sometimes hard to understand and u just have to vibe with it

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crocosmia's trance was so mesmerizing, once I fell into it I often forgot I was reading. It felt more like a song. And I think that's special because while this book is political and critical of a capitalistic hellscape, it's actually really hopeful and utopian and fitting within these dreamy lyrics. If you choose this book my suggestion is you allow it to take you for a ride rather than forcing it to be whatever you think a book is. I hope you're pleasantly surprised.