John recommend this book — comparing it to The Road, a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by Cormac McCarthy. 

It’s very good. Though — like The Road — depressing.

Parable of the Sower is a 1993 dystopian novel by Octavia E. Butler, the first in a two-book series.

Set in the 2020s where society has largely collapsed due to climate change, growing wealth inequality, and corporate greed, Parable of the Sower centers on a young woman named Lauren Oya Olamina who possesses what Butler dubbed hyperempathy or “sharing” – the ability to feel pain and other sensations she witnesses. …

When Lauren‘s home is destroyed and family murdered, she travels north with other survivors. 

The young woman evolves a new belief system, which she comes to call Earthseed. Her goal to build a community based on those beliefs.

Sadly, Octavia Butler died age-58 at her home in Washington State. A multiple recipient of both Hugo and Nebula awards, she influenced many other writers.