Dreamsnake

Extract: There is a warmth to this book that is wondrous. It had the same effect on me as did "Jonathan Strange." Whenever I picked it up, at home when I had time, or on the train to work for 8 pages at a time, the prose of the book put me in a wonderful place.

The basic plot is that of a quest, but it is so much more than that. First, it's the quest of a woman, the first female main character in a Hugo winner, if memory serves me correctly. Second, the woman is a healer who produces vaccines and cures through the manipulation of venom from snakes. She is a doctor in a post-apocalyptic world that fears snakes. Third, through her journey, she heals those around her mentally and emotionally, while trying to heal herself...