Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler (1998) Seven Stories Press

The sequel to The Parable of the Sower, our Heroine, Lauren Ova Olamina, has collected her verses into The Book of Life, about Earthseed, created a community called Acorn and gathered people to teach and help in a near-post apocalyptic U.S. – but her tests in life are about to get so much worse.  ‘Crusaders’ reminiscent of the KKK, enforced slavery in the name of Christianity, separation of children from the parents, a megalomaniac who promises to ‘Make America Great Again’ (the book was written in the 1990s).  This volume is told from her diaries and from her daughter’s perspective, having been abducted as a baby and raised in a home affiliated with the same church as the Crusaders.  Yet in the end, life goes on and Earthseed reaches for its goals.

A prophetic warning for our times.