Drought

I was thrilled to see that Pam Bachorz had another novel coming out after I enjoyed her first book Candor this summer. Just as Candor's cover mesmerized me, Drought's cover pulled me. I like how both covers have a color in sections that stands out.

I rang in the new year with Drought. I was having a New Year's slumber party with the girls. While they were watching one of the movies we rented for the second time, I decided to read, intending to go to bed right after 12 'o clock. Little did I know, Drought would be too gripping. The official start of 2011 came and went, both girls fell asleep, and I was enthralled. No matter how tired I was, I just could not put it down. This point comes fairly early in the book, as I stayed awake even though I did not read the last page until 4:30 in the morning. Only on break would that be possible, so it is a good thing I did not hold off on reading it until I was back in school!

Ruby has lived with her mother and the Congregation for about 200 years. Enslaved by Darwin West and the Overseers who work for him so that the Congregants remain under his control, Ruby spends her days with a cup and a spoon scraping any drops of water she can find into her cup to fill her quota. Right after the Congregation started Ruby's mom lied to Darwin, telling him that the special healing water they had needed to be harvested this way by Otto's followers in order to protect the truth that it was really Otto's blood mixed with the water.

Though Otto is Ruby's father, she has never met him. He left before she was born, leaving 4 viles of blood that her mom was able to drop into the water for years. Luckily for her, by the time they finally ran out, they realized that Ruby's blood was also special.

Years of back-breaking work and cruelty have Ruby wishing she could go into the outside world, rather than being stuck as if it were 1812 and struggling. However, the Congregation's leaders refuse to try to overturn Darwin's control. They say they must endure and patiently wait until Otto returns to save them all. An opportunity arises for Ruby when a new Overseer is different. She is shocked to begin forming a relationship with him, but he is more kind and promises that he would be able to take her away and keep her safe. Yet, that would mean abandoning the Congregation and taking away the healing power of her blood.

Heart beating quickly and stomach in knots, I kept turning the pages, anticipating finally seeing what type of an ending Bachorz had waiting for her readers. I was wishing that Ruby would just leave but knew how deep her commitment to the Congregation ran.

The farther I read into the book, I started to think back to Bitter Melon. It should have been an obvious connection from the beginning, but since the genres were so different, it escaped my notice at first. The books would be perfect to read together, discussing issues of making decisions weighing needs/wants of self vs. family and community, navigating feelings, and discovering true intentions/motivations of others. Individually, each book lends to ample discussion, but together the discussions would achieve an even higher level of depth.

Originally, I was more excited about the premise of Candor as compared to my initial thoughts of Drought, but it ended up that Drought was even more gripping. It will be released on January 25, and I highly recommend it.

*ARC copy provided by the publisher