Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang

Kate Wilhelm is the author of quite a few novels, some of which are science fiction. I was previously unfamiliar with her and this is the first I have read. Her style of writing is straightforward and succinct.

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang is the story of an extended family that survives the-end-of-civilization-as-we-know it. It is somewhat similar to Earth Abides by George R. Stewart in that it is post-apocalyptic rather than apocalyptic, following a burgeoning new society in the aftermath of disaster. The ability of humans to reproduce is virtually eliminated by a plague and the survivors replicate themselves primarily through cloning. We follow the lives of David, then Molly, and finally Mark through their successive generations. With each of them it becomes a case of the individual versus the hive, as their culture becomes more dystopian. We care about each of these characters, but it is really Mark, a natural-birth boy, with whom our hopes lie as he finds himself more and more alienated from the culture of clones he grows up in. The ending is satisfying and a little unexpected, though certainly not unexpecatable.

I recommend this book. I expect it's likely that I will read more of Kate Wilhelm, especially her science fiction.