Octavia Butler

The Parable of the Sower

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Octavia Butler’s Parable Series includes two frighteningly prescient novels, Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. Fleeing a gated Los Angeles community after climate disaster and economic collapse precipitate societal breakdown, Lauren Olamina, the young woman protagonist, heads north, traveling by foot along highway 101 with a small band of survivors. Along the way, she falls in love, has a child, establishes a community in Northern California, and tangles with a militant Christian cult. The series depicts a not unlikely dystopian near future, yet its denouement is hopeful.​