# Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton - Blinkist

What’s in it for me? Embark on a tragic thriller of Shakespearian proportions.

Do the words “Birnam wood” sound familiar at all? If they do, there’s a good chance you’re either very familiar with the geography of Scotland or you know a quote from Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth when you hear one.

In that renowned play, Macbeth is warned that he’ll only be vanquished when “great Birnam wood” comes to Dunsinane Hill. Macbeth rests easy, believing that the trees in Birnam will never uproot themselves and climb a hill in Dunsinane. But then, the English army makes weapons and shields from Birnam trees and Macbeth is indeed vanquished, along with many others.

In the novel Birnam Wood, it’s an American tech industry billionaire who thinks he’s invincible. But as we’ll see in this Blink, his boldness and megalomania will result in a similar tragedy when he gets involved with a small activist group named – you guessed it – Birnam Wood.

And a fair warning before we begin: things get very violent.

An offer they could have refused

Shelley Noakes wanted out. For four and half years, she’d been a devoted member of Birnam Wood, an activist collective that had been started five years ago by her friend and roommate Mira Bunting. 

The group, which was around a dozen strong these days, was based in Christchurch, New Zealand, and was committed to reclaiming neglected land for agricultural use. They’re guerrilla farmers, essentially. Sometimes, they trespassed or stole from commercial farms. But the end justifies the means. The harvested produce was either given to those in need, shared within the community, or sold to fund more supplies. They had a vision: to enlighten people about the wastefulness of land use and to instigate social reform.

Shelley was still a believer but she found her relationship with Mira increasingly untenable. She was tired of her role as Mira's reliable sidekick. It had become demeaning and stifling. But, when talking to Mira, she could never find the right words to express herself.

So while Shelley was at home applying to other job postings, Mira was at the library researching a potential new target for the group in the nearby town of Thorndike. The land belonged to Owen and Jill Darvish. Owen was a prominent figure, about to be awarded a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to conservation.

In fact, Owen Darvish had used his upcoming knighthood to announce a joint venture with an American tech company called Autonomo, which specialized in making drones. As Owen explained to the press, the drones would be used to monitor the populations of both invasive and endangered species better.

The property was situated on 153 hectares of land and shared a border with the Korowai National Park. Mira noticed that it had been for sale, but a recent earthquake and subsequent landslide had seemingly caused the listing to disappear. The landslide, which killed five people, had closed off the only major road leading out of town, turning the small community into a sleepy cul-de-sac. The property was sure to be abandoned until the road was cleared, which could take months.

When Mira returned home to tell Shelley about the property, she wasn’t there. So Mira decided to head to Thorndike on her own.

The reason Shelley wasn’t at home that afternoon was that Mira’s old flame Tony Gallo had suddenly shown up at the house looking for Mira. Shelley suggested they go out for drinks and catch up. Over a couple beers, Tony explained that, over the past three years, he’d backpacked around South America and tried his hand at freelance journalism, which backfired. He wrote an article about his experiences in Mexico that went viral in all the wrong ways, with accusations of poverty tourism and white privilege. It was humiliating.

When the conversation inevitably moved to Birnam Wood things got awkward. Tony was a founding member of the collective and it was clear that he still had feelings for Mira and was still upset that they’d split on bad terms.

Over the following days, Shelley received periodic texts from Mira. It sounded like Thorndike was a promising place for Birnam Wood. She knew she should probably tell Mira about Tony, but she never did.

As it turned out, Mira was also keeping things from Shelley. On her first day in Thorndike, she was caught snooping around the property by Robert Lemoine, the cofounder and former CEO of Autonomo. When he confronted her, he already knew her name, which caught her completely off guard. He explained that it was because the name of her phone signal, “Mira’s iPhone,” popped up on his screen when she entered the property.

Even though Mira’s initial instinct was to run away, Robert ended up charming her. Or maybe it was the other way around. Robert liked Mira’s confidence and her sharp intellect. Maybe she could be useful, he thought.

Around two weeks later, Mira returned home ready to pitch the idea of starting a new project on the Thorndike property, completely funded by Robert Lemoine. What Mira didn’t expect was that Tony Gallo would be at the meeting.

By the time she arrived, Tony had already turned the group against him by getting into a heated argument with another member. Tony was in mansplaining mode, talking about how modern liberal ideologies were playing into the hands of the capitalist machinery. So, when Mira mentioned that Robert Lemoine had already deposited $10,000 into her bank account, Tony saw this as another perfect example.

As Mira explained, the $10,000 came with no strings attached. Robert was a venture capitalist, this was what he did. They’d have a few months to do their thing, and if he liked what he saw, he’d make a proposal for long-term budgeting. In a way, this was what Birnam Wood needed. This was the break that could finally turn them into a viable, functioning nonprofit, capable of taking on bigger, more meaningful projects.

But Tony was insistent: no. Getting into bed with a guy like Robert Lemoine? A guy who made drones that were turning the world into a totalitarian surveillance state? This went against every principle Birnam Wood was founded upon.

Seeing Mira’s discomfort, and feeling partly responsible for it, Shelley spoke up and backed the Thorndike project. The rest of the group, being fed up with Tony, sided with Shelley. After Tony stormed off in disgust, plans were set in motion for the group to pack up and head to Thorndike.

ANALYSIS

A fateful decision has been made. This first section lays a lot of groundwork to explain why a group of well-meaning, liberal-minded people might strike a deal with a guy who’d otherwise be more of an enemy than a friend.

The reasoning is a potent mixture of difficult personalities, troubled history, heated politics, and extenuating circumstances. But mostly, the decision is the result of the kind of ironic twists of fate that often occur in Shakespearean tragedies. If only things had played out a little differently. If only Mira had been home when Tony showed up. Or if Shelley had texted Mira about Tony before the meeting. Or if Tony hadn’t been so eager to pick a fight. Then, maybe, the group would have been more willing to question the ethics of the Thorndike project. And maybe a lot of tears and bloodshed could have been avoided.

And what kind of guy is Robert Lemoine, anyway? Let’s see ...

A bump in the night

Robert Lemoine enjoyed lying and adopting whatever persona the situation called for. In Thorndike, he was playing the role of the stereotypical billionaire doomsday prepper. As he explained to both the Darvishes and Mira Bunting, the reason he was interested in the property was to build a massive luxurious bunker, so that he could wait out the apocalypse in comfort and style.

The real reason the property was no longer listed was because the Darvishes had accepted a massive down payment from Robert. The one term that Robert insisted upon was that the Darvishes sign a nondisclosure agreement. He didn’t want anyone to know he was interested in Thorndike because his true agenda had nothing to do with a bunker.

Not long ago, Autonomo got a contract to conduct a radiometric survey of the Korowai National Park. This revealed that the area contained a fortune in rare-earth elements – the secret ingredient that makes smartphones possible. Only Robert and a few other people on the planet knew about this trillion-dollar fortune and he wanted to keep it that way.

Robert was also keen to hide the fact that he was responsible for the earthquake and landslide that killed five people. That was an unfortunate side effect of the process known as solution mining, which Robert had begun weeks ago in order to chemically flush out the precious rare-earth elements.

Finally, Robert wasn’t honest when he told Mira Bunting how he knew her name. When his drones first spotted her approaching the property, he remotely hacked her phone and created a mirror device. So Robert was able to browse her texts, emails, and bank account details, and now he could see what she was doing every time she used her phone.

And yet, no one ever suspected Robert of being anything other than a typically eccentric, charismatic, American tech magnate.

One night, a few weeks after Birnam Wood had moved onto the property, Robert leaned into this affable persona by offering the group some LSD. As he explained, it wasn’t uncommon for Silicon Valley businesses to use LSD for creative inspiration and bonding exercises. Shelley, trying to shake off her reputation for being the boring sidekick, was all for it. But Mira declined. Robert also passed on his own offer, and, as the rest of the group took their tabs of acid, Mira and Robert quietly snuck off to the vacant Darvish home.

Mira knew they were about to have sex, but then, something strange happened. Looking out the window, she noticed a car parked in front of the gate. Robert mentioned that he’d changed the entry code recently. But the man must have climbed over the gate because here he was walking up the driveway. Then, just as he was about to approach the house, a van suddenly came from the other direction and ran right into him before crashing into a tree.

Mira and Robert went outside to find that Shelley was the one driving the van, and the person she ran over – and instantly killed – was Owen Darvish.

Why was the newly minted Sir Owen Darvish showing up at his house late at night? The reason was Tony Gallo. You see, after he stormed out of the meeting, Tony drowned his sorrows at a local pub, where he hooked up with another old friend, Rosie Demarney. Rosie helped Tony feel better about himself. He told her that he was going to Thorndike to investigate a story. He’d figure out what Robert Lemoine was really up to, and hopefully save Birnam Wood before they got themselves inextricably linked to this capitalist monster.

He began by hiking around the perimeter of the property in Korowai National Park, which is where he ran into one of Robert’s hired security personnel. The imposing man, who was concealing a gun, only mentioned something about a radiometric survey before sending him on his way.

Online, Tony was able to view the property title to see that, in fact, the land was still under the ownership of Owen Darvish. So he sent an email to Owen requesting an interview about Robert Lemoine and the plans he had for the property.

This email utterly confused both Owen and Jill Darvish. How did some no-name reporter find out about Robert’s interest in the property? Owen called Tony and gave him a bunch of no-comment answers to questions about radiometric surveys and doomsday bunkers. Something wasn’t right. Owen had to go to Thorndike and see what was going on. His wife opposed the idea, but she never imagined that her husband wouldn’t make it back alive.

ANALYSIS

In this section, Robert’s well-laid plans begin to rapidly fall apart. He just wants to get his precious metals out of Thorndike, but Owen Darvish’s death will inevitably make it much more complicated. To top it all off, he was killed by someone who shouldn’t have been there. Someone who was high on acid that he’d provided. 

The news about a hiker poking around the edges of the property isn’t helping, either. But the thing about Robert is that he will never stop thinking that he can gain back total control. Somehow, with his money, his men, and his fancy gadgets, he’s determined that he’ll find a way out of this mess.

It’s not hard to see Robert as representative of late-period capitalism at its worst. Profit is king. And if the pursuit of profit erodes basic human liberties like the right to privacy, and comes at the cost of human lives and ecological disasters, then that’s the price we have to pay.

Is there any way to stop him? And if so, what will that cost be? Let’s find out in the last section.

One last flame of resistance

The last thing Shelley remembered was checking her emails. She found out that one of her job offers had come through. That was it, the chance to leave Birnam Wood and start over. So she decided to get in the van and drive home immediately. Unfortunately, this was all while she was still high on acid.

Now, Shelley and Mira were standing over a dead body and Robert was trying to calm them down. To do so, he took them to another house nearby that was already stocked with supplies where they could lay low for a few days. In Robert’s eyes, the setup was perfect to ensure Shelley and Mira stayed off the radar until he could conduct proper damage control.

Meanwhile, Robert went to work controlling the narrative. He made it look like Owen had accidentally driven off the road late at night and tumbled down a steep ridge. He also hacked into Owen’s phone to manipulate his location settings and create a phony email thread to show that Owen had known the Birnam Wood group was on his property all along.

The only person questioning this narrative was Jill Darvish. After Robert reached out to her the following morning with the news, none of it sounded right. How was it that Owen had never told her about Birnam Wood? Why would he drive past the gate to his own home and wind up on that dangerous road? No matter how Robert tried to explain it, Jill wouldn’t settle down.

And then there was Tony Gallo. Robert was lucky enough to intercept a text to Mira from Rosie Demarney, who was getting anxious after not hearing back from Tony. This text finally provided Robert with a name for his prey.

Tony knew how to avoid the drones and keep his phone off when close to the property. Still, Robert’s security guards had very nearly caught him. After finding and blocking his car, Tony had to jump into a river to escape. He broke an arm and likely his ankle. But the important thing was that Tony had proof. He’d shot a roll of film that showed how Robert was using toxic chemicals to illegally mine the Korowai National Park. This was the kind of story that could launch a career. But now, all Tony could concentrate on was staying alive and trying to warn Mira.

Tony put his broken arm in a sling and used his long, aluminum camping lighter to make a splint for his ankle. Stranded in the wilderness without his car, Tony spent the next few days slowly making his way back to the farm, careful to avoid Robert’s security guards and surveillance drones.

Finally, Tony reached the property and was able to get Mira’s attention. But Mira couldn’t believe what she was seeing or hearing. Tony looked nearly dead, and he was ranting about geological surveys, toxic mining, a fake bunker, and a conspiracy involving Robert, Owen Darvish, and the government.

But just when Tony was starting to convince Mira, Robert crept up behind them. With the help of an armed security guard, he confiscated Tony’s roll of film and took him to the house. He wanted Tony kept alive. He had a new plan.

In looking up Tony online, Robert had found plenty of angry liberal writing. In fact, one essay could easily be called a “manifesto,” the kind of thing left behind by someone who loses all hope after being ostracized by his peer group. The kind of thing that gets discovered after a horrible act of violence is committed.

If Robert’s plan succeeded, everyone from Birnam Wood would be found dead. They’d blame Tony, and by that point, he and his precious metals would be long gone. It meant that Robert would have to cut the mining process short, but so be it. There were now too many moving pieces to keep track of at this point and it was better to quit while he was still ahead.

The next morning, one of those moving pieces arrived at the property – Jill Darvish. Jill had traveled to Thorndike looking for answers. Robert's story about Owen's death had never sat well with her, and the moment she entered her home, she knew something was wrong. There was spilled coffee on the floor. There were marks that looked like someone had been dragged out of the kitchen. That’s when she heard screaming in the distance. She went to the room where they kept their gun case. She loaded a rifle and picked up a knife. Jill recalled her days shooting and skinning rabbits with Owen. Jill had always been the better shot.

Another terrible scream cut through the air and Jill followed the sound to the yard behind the house. As she quietly stepped outside, she recognized Robert Lemoine standing in the distance with his back to her. He was busy doing something with his phone. Across the yard was a horror show. At least a dozen dead bodies lay strewn about. They looked like they’d been poisoned. Words were written on the farming vehicles. Words like “justice,” “shame,” and “this is your future.”

She didn’t recognize the two people lying at Robert’s feet. Tony and Mira were bound together at the wrist. Mira’s other wrist was bound to the frame of a truck. Mira appeared dead, but Tony was still alive and screaming.

But when Tony saw Jill, he went silent. This caused Robert to turn around. With a steady hand, Jill moved forward and shot Robert directly between the eyes. She quickly bent down and cut Tony free. “Behind you,” Tony said, just before a burst of bullets tore through Jill.

Tony ran as fast as he could. He got himself over the fence, knowing that Robert’s armed security guard, who’d just shot Jill, wasn’t far behind. He stumbled to the mining site and crawled to the leeching pits that he’d taken pictures of before. Holes in the ground that emitted the most foul and toxic fumes. A camouflage netting protected the area from overhead view. He reached down and removed the long camping lighter that was still strapped to his ankle. He stuck it down into the hole and squeezed the trigger. He knew he was about to die, but he also knew this was a cause worth dying for. As the flames hit the trees, he hoped the netting would burn and reveal the full scale of what Lemoine had done. He hoped people would care, and he hoped they’d be able to extinguish the flames.

Final summary

Mira Bunting knew that Robert Lemoine’s offer was unusual. He was a shady billionaire tech magnate, but he was also kind of charismatic in the way that he showed interest in Mira and her activist collective, Birnam Wood.

Mira’s old flame Tony knew that Robert and his drone manufacturing business were no good from the start, and he set about trying to prove it while everyone else in the collective accepted Robert’s offer for a few months of no-strings-attached funding. The project was taking place in Thorndike, where, unbeknownst to Mira and the group, Robert was using toxic chemicals to illegally mine the nearby national forest for rare-earth elements.

But the death of the property owner and Tony’s own investigation into Robert’s activities in the area lead to a deadly conclusion worthy of Shakespeare’s own tragedies. Robert kills the entire group, hoping to blame it all on Tony. But Tony is able to get free and, in a moment of self-sacrifice, he sets fire to Robert’s mining operation.