MOTHER courage
With climate change constantly in the news, this futuristic novel is timely. Imagine that the earth is almost covered in water. Only mountaintops are left, and civilisation, as we know it, is gone.
Myra remembers the way things were. She grew up in Nebraska but now lives on a small boat with her young daughter Pearl, the only family she has left. They fish for food, trade their catch for supplies and struggle to survive.
Myra has not only lost her home, but also her older daughter, who was taken by her father seven years ago.
After discovering that the child is alive, she vows to find her, whatever it takes.
To survive the dangerous journey, she must find a larger vessel, and people who can be talked or tricked into helping.
On one level, this is a swashbuckling adventure.
Myra is tough and resourceful – and needs to be because at any moment she might encounter pirates or murderous raiders. She believes her daughter has been taken to a colony run by a gang of slave traders, and must head further into danger to have any hope of rescuing her. And that means putting Pearl at risk.
Girl power, courage, the strength of a mother’s love, a post-apocalyptic scenario – it is gripping stuff and beautifully written. But a lot of bad stuff happens and there’s a constant threat of more to come, so as I was reading
I felt permanently anxious.
This sort of novel is most disturbing when its vision of the future feels like something that could actually happen. While lovers of disaster fiction will find After the Flood compelling, it also makes for an extraordinarily bleak and unsettling read.
A DESPERATE WOMAN SEARCHES FOR WHAT’S HERS