“Landscapes” draws from impressions of books that author Christine Lai encountered throughout her studies.

Christine Lai said that six years ago when she started writing the story that ultimately became the novel “Landscapes,” she did not expect to get it published.

The Vancouver, British Columbia, based academic (she earned a doctorate in English Literature from University College London) was weaving together impressions of the books she’d read throughout her studies, responses to artworks and architecture she’d encountered while in Europe, and her apprehension about the growing global climate crisis.

Fortunately for all of us, agents and editors discovered Lai’s project and the result is the publication this month of her debut novel.

At first glance, this book seems to present a gloomy prophecy of our near-term future — although for many, that future has arrived already.

This week’s book

“Landscapes” by Christine Lai

Two Dollar Radio — 217 pp — $26

But this story also contains a powerful tribute to humanity’s creative impulses “Landscapes” is set in England a few years from now. The country has suffered a string of climate events that have resulted in catastrophic floods through London, followed by seasons of drought so dire that no songbirds are left in the countryside.

While London and other European capitals have since been protected by climate-controlled domes, the surrounding lands have been surrendered to the caprices of climate change.

The historic estate of Mornington Hall is out in the countryside. In its heyday, Mornington played host to England’s aristocracy and noted 19th-century landscape painter J.M.W. Turner once stayed there as a guest and painted there.

But 200 years later, Penelope is working at the estate in a race against time. An archivist, she is cataloging the art, documents and ephemera of Mornington’s glory years in preparation for an online sale, as the majestic old home is succumbing to the impacts of an increasingly hostile climate.

It wasn’t like this 22 years prior when Penelope first had been brought in to help with accessions and management of the archives. She’d been hired by then-owner Julian, whose acquisitive personality knew no bounds.

But Julian was the type of person to lose interest in things once he possessed them. When he abruptly sold Mornington to his brother, Aidan, Penelope had to adjust to the younger sibling’s very different approach toward business and life.

In the intervening years, Mornington has become a short-term shelter for climate refugees. But the residence continues to crumble, and Aidan and Penelope realize that exile will soon be in the cards for them, too.

“Landscapes” is a contemplation of beauty and decay, intention and uncertainty. This brilliantly ekphrastic novel invites us to consider the art of many who have come before and grappled with existential challenges in their times — whether Homer’s epics, Turner’s landscapes or Mahler’s symphonies.

Just as those artists layered colors, characters, or tonal qualities in their work, Lai combines diary entries, academic critique, archival catalog notes and postcard messages. The resulting narrative encompasses different eras and different viewpoints.

“Landscapes” is an indictment of humanity’s hubris, yes — but it’s also a sumptuous contemplation of the enduring power of art.