I found this novel engaging on several levels. I had previously read a couple Octavia Butler short stories, but this was my first foray into longer form work from the author. Butler including rare images from the author’s estate. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Taking its place alongside Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Butler’s eerily prophetic novel offers a terrifying vision of our potential future, but also one of hope. And as this band of violent extremists sets its deadly sights on Earthseed, Acorn is plunged into a harrowing fight for its very survival. To his marauding followers, who are identified by their crosses and black robes, this is a call to arms to end religious tolerance and racial equality-a brutal doctrine they enforce by machine gun. Presidential candidate Andrew Steele Jarret wins national fame by preaching a return to the values of the American golden age. But outside the tranquil group’s walls, America is changing for the worse. Five years later, Lauren has married a doctor and given birth to a daughter.

There she founded Acorn, a peaceful community based on a religion of her creation, called Earthseed, whose central tenet is that God is change. She fled the war zone for the hope of quiet and safety in the north. Lauren Olamina was only eighteen when her family was killed, and anarchy encroached on her Southern California home. Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel: The powerful and compelling sequel to the dystopian classic Parable of the Sower

Octavia e butler parable of the talents