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Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

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Parable of the Sower

Earthseed: Book #1

by Octavia E. Butler

Narrator Lynne Thigpen

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Length 12 hours 2 minutes

Language English

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Bookseller recommendation

“Prescient, brilliant, challenging; a book everyone should read, probably multiple times in their lives as N.K. Jemisin suggests.”
— Ellie • Page 1 Books

Bookseller recommendation

“The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler is a powerful and thought-provoking tale of survival, resilience, and the search for hope in a world unraveling from climate disasters and social collapse. With unforgettable characters and profound insights, Butler’s vision of the future challenges readers to consider the importance of community, adaptability, and compassion in the face of adversity.”
— Jesi • Indie Darling Bookstore

Bookseller recommendation

“Heartbreaking, disturbing, inspiring, and powerful, Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower is the OG young adult dystopian lit, written before the genre even came into being. This book will make you stay up all night reading, and it is full of big ideas that will give you tools to face the challenges that face our world and country today and tomorrow. ”
— Megan • Underground Books

Bookseller recommendation

“A definite classic! This acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from an award-winning author pairs well with 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale.”
— Brooke • The Lit Room

#28 in Bestselling Fantasy Audiobooks

Summary

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Octavia E. Butler paints a stunning portrait of an all-too-believable near future. As with Kindred and her other critically-acclaimed novels, Parable of the Sower skillfully combines startling visionary and socially realistic concepts. God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs-and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars. For her elegant, literate works of science fiction, Octavia E. Butler has been compared to Toni Morrison and Ursula K. LeGuin. Narrator Lynne Thigpen's melodious voice will hold you spellbound throughout this compelling parable of modern society.

Fiction Fantasy