Sharina Mathews, a young Abenaki woman, finds herself pregnant with a child whose DNA reveals there is no biological father. At a farmers’ market in Oregon, she meets Chana, a young Asian woman who is also pregnant although still a virgin, and their lives are instantly intertwined. On the run from those who would dissect them to understand their parthenogenic abilities, Sharina and Chana and their partners seek shelter on Sharina’s mother’s farm in Vermont. As the babies grow in utero and the young women spend time together, their distinctive abilities increase, ultimately threatening to disable the most powerful military technology ever conceived.
Are Sharina and Chana simply biological anomalies with unusual abilities, or are they evolutionary outcomes of Nature trying to ensure human survival? What will their offspring offer humanity as it hurtles toward potential disaster?
As with her previous books, Birthright Knowing and Marcea of the Dust, Cooper places at center the importance of high-quality, nutritious food to keep humanity grounded and thinking, with our connection to Earth tantamount to connecting with family and loved ones.