This acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from an award-winning author "pairs well with 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale". (John Green, New York Times).When
global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos in the
early 2020s, California becomes full of dangers, from pervasive water
shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see
another day. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated
community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered
from the surrounding anarchy. In a society where any vulnerability is a
risk, she suffers from hyperempathy, a debilitating sensitivity to
others' emotions.
Precocious and clear-eyed, Lauren must make her
voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent
disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a
fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new
faith . . . and a startling vision of human destiny.
"One of science fiction's most important figures, an author who wrote
cracking, crackling, accessible and fast-moving adventure stories shot
through with trenchant and smart allegories about race, gender and power
. . . Parable of the Sower has never been more relevant."—Boing Boing
"The Earthseed books are instructional in a way that other apocalypse
fictions are not . . . they offer something beyond practical
preparations: a blueprint for adjusting to uncertainty."—Slate
