Drought -- Pam Bachorz

For the last two hundred years, Ruby and the rest of the Congregation have been held as prisoners and slaves to Darwin West and his Overseers. Every day, they are forced to gather life-extending Water, and if they don't meet their quota—or if they talk back, or if they displease Darwin in some other way, or if Darwin is just in a bad mood—there are beatings.

What Darwin and most of the Congregation doesn't know is that it isn't the Water that is special: It's Ruby's blood.

But suddenly, after two hundred years of this heart- and back-breaking life, Ruby has had enough. She wants out. She wants freedom, she wants to explore and join the modern world, and she wants to do that with Ford.

Who is an Overseer.

So, Drought. I had a hard time with it. For one, I need to take a break from books that feature characters who look-young-but-are-actually-hundreds-of-years-old-but-they're-still-somehow-emotionally-stunted-or-something-and-so-they-fixate-on-a-teenaged-love-interest*. It's hard to buy.

I also had difficulty believing that in two hundred years, the place hadn't been raided by the ATF or at least investigated by some other government agency. And I didn't get, since Ruby's blood made plants grow and the Overseers generally left the cabins of the Congregation alone, why they didn't at least attempt to grow some decent food**, rather than letting Darwin West starve them.

But most of all, the idea of a romantic relationship between a slave and an overseer made me feel squicky.

Which is only natural. And the author very definitely acknowledged and explored*** the squick.

But, still. Squick.

It's a compelling story, though, and it would make for an especially good book group conversation, plot holes and all: It raises questions about faith versus pragmatism versus faith tempered by pragmatism; about how religion can look when seen from the inside and out; about being protected versus being controlled; and about how being controlled is being controlled, regardless of the controller's motive. And, if the conversation is ever in danger of petering out, you'll be able to ask the group what they think about the ending: I can guarantee that some readers will want to vent about the lack of answers and debate about The Truth of it All.

___________________________________

*You know, like vampires.

**As opposed to Hope's pathetic pea plants.

***And which I also suspect [Sort Of Spoiler But Really It's Mostly Just Speculation About What Happens After The Book Ends] will not be a Happily Ever After [/SOSBRIMJSAWHATBE].

___________________________________

Book source: ILLed through my library.