In the bleakest of post-apocalyptic futures, Mae belongs to an aging tribe of women who eke out their desperate survival in an abandoned underground mine. When she protests against a plot to usurp the leadership of the tribe from her lifelong companion, Mae finds herself in a nightmarish situation: she is banished to the Upground without food, water, or protection. There she is prey to all the dangers of her world. Cascading climate disasters have rendered the earth poisoned and uninhabitable, and men who are former soldiers scarred by endless wars rove the land to unleash their violence and hatred on any unlucky wanderers who cross their paths. How will Mae survive? Betrayed by her tribe, at the mercy of her world, can the old woman muster enough skill and intelligence-and luck-to make it through her exile? This gripping thriller of survival is a stand-alone, self-contained sequel to Book 1 in the Dry Earth Series, "The Bright and Darkened Lands of the Earth."
