Worlds away
It’s summer in Boise, Idaho, where the American writer Anthony Doerr lives, but the sky outside is grey. Boise is a desert-plains city nudging the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Although Doerr (pronounced “door”) has described it as “the most remote urban area in the lower 48”, the wildfires stretching from California to British Columbia now make their presence felt on a daily basis. “July was the hottest month on record in Idaho,” he says. “What seemed like remote predictions are happening.”
Doerr, an Ohio native, lives in “incredibly beautiful” Idaho with his wife and teenage twin sons. Covid has hit hard, with more than 2500 deaths in a state of 1.8 million, and half the population still unvaccinated. “Our kids are back in school full-time, wearing masks. They were in their bedrooms all last year. It was harder on them than we realised.”
Doerr spent seven months in New Zealand when
