Name this book

May 10, 2004 7:27 PM

Looking for a book. Read in Quitslund's class at GWU in 1994. It is a book set in near-future California/Southwest. I want to say that it is called something like "Into the Valley of Light" but that's not it. Main character is a woman. Another character is named Mark. Water is scarse in the novel. If memory serves it was written by a woman.
posted by n9 to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

What was the class about? I'm going to take a stab at it, and guess that it was.... Octavia Butler?
Parable of the Sower is nothing like the title you hinted at, nor does it have a character named Mark (that I can remember), but it is does take place in the future in Southern CA, with all sorts of dystopic elements, including severe water shortages. And the main character (also the narrator) is a woman.
posted by invisible ink at 8:11 PM on May 10, 2004

Response by poster: nope. looks interesting, though. no supernatural/hitech bits in this one that I can remember.
posted by n9 at 8:17 PM on May 10, 2004

Best answer: yay! got it!

_In the Heart of the Valley of Love_ by Cynthia Kadohata. Now I can be ok again.
posted by n9 at 8:26 PM on May 10, 2004 [1 favorite]

hah. i was going to say butler's "Parable of the Talents", sequel to the book invisible ink mentioned:
main character is a woman named lauren, in the 2030s, in california. water is scarce. she has a brother named marc...

[i'd love to take a class where butler's books were required reading.]
posted by ubersturm at 9:52 PM on May 10, 2004

ubersturm-

Come to California:-) Butler is popular in university courses, especially in the UC system (my first Butler book was "Clay's Ark", in an American studies class.)
posted by invisible ink at 10:01 PM on May 10, 2004