by Kate Wilhelm
First published 2006
The Sumners feel the warm winds that signal the end of the world. Their vast fortune has bought them safety in an isolated compound in the Shenandoah Valley, complete with laboratories and farmland for the survivors who will rebuild civilization. But as the family faces widespread infertility, they turn to cloning technology as their only hope for continuation. The clones multiply and thrive, yet something crucial goes wrong. The very humanity the Sumners sought to preserve begins to slip away as tensions rise between the original humans and their artificial descendants. The community fractures along this divide, threatening to destroy the last refuge of human civilization from within. What emerges is a struggle not just for physical survival, but for the essence of what makes us human.
Genres: science-fiction, dystopia, literary-fiction, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, humanity
Setting: Shenandoah Valley
Period: 20th-century
Audio CD · Blackstone Audiobooks
Content warnings: infertility