Parable of the Talents

From a celebrated author, the thrilling sequel to The Parable of the Sower—a cautionary novel ahead of its time, perfect for fans of The Broken Earth trilogy.

In 2032, Lauren Olamina has survived the destruction and ruin of everything she knew. Her peaceful community based on her newly founded faith, Earthseed, provides refuge for outcasts facing persecution after the election of an ultra-conservative president. Under his rule, Lauren's colony—a minority religious faction led by a young Black woman—becomes a target for the president’s reign of terror and oppression.

Years later, Asha Vere reads the journals of a mother she never knew. As she searches for answers, she struggles to reconcile with the legacy of a mother caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future.

"In the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most applicable to our time, Octavia Butler's 'Parable' books may be unmatched."—The New Yorker

OCTAVIA E. BUTLERwas a renowned writer who received a MacArthur "Genius" Grant and PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work. She was the author of several award-winning novels including Parable of the Sower, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and was acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations in stories that range from the distant past to the far future. Sales of her books have increased enormously since her death as the issues she addressed in her Afrofuturistic, feminist novels and short fiction have only become more relevant. She passed away on February 24, 2006.