Parable of the Sower

The Parable of the Sower is a dystopian novel by Octavia E. Butler, published in 1993. The story is set in a near-future Los Angeles (starting in 2024) that is devastated by climate change and governmental collapse. In this world, fresh water is scarce, communities are fortified against desperate outsiders, and a dangerous drug called pyro causes users to set fires for pleasure.

The protagonist is Lauren Oya Olamina, a teenage girl with hyperempathy, a condition that causes her to feel others' pain and pleasure as her own. After her gated community is destroyed, she flees with a group of survivors. They eventually unite behind Lauren's vision for a new world, centered on her belief that "God is Change, and in the end, God prevails." The novel explores themes of societal breakdown, violence, privatization, and the possibility of positive change amidst chaos.1