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    A Gift Upon the Shore
    A Gift Upon the Shore
    A Gift Upon the Shore
    Ebook476 pages7 hours

    A Gift Upon the Shore

    By M.K. Wren

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    “A poignant expression of the durability, grace, and potential of the human spirit” set in a post-nuclear dystopia where words are worth killing for (Jean M. Auel, author of the Earth’s Children series).
     
    By the late twenty-first century, civilization has nearly been destroyed by overpopulation, economic chaos, horrific disease, and a global war that brought a devastating nuclear winter.
     
    On the Oregon coast, two women—writer Mary Hope and painter Rachel Morrow—embark on an audacious project to help save future generations: the preservation of books, both their own and any they can find at nearby abandoned houses. For years, they labor in solitude. Then they encounter a young man who comes from a group of survivors in the South. They call their community the Ark.
     
    Rachel and Mary see the possibility of civilization rising again. But they realize with trepidation that the Arkites believe in only one book—the Judeo-Christian bible—and regard all other books as blasphemous. And those who go against the word of God must be cleansed from the Earth . . .
     
    In this “thought-provoking” novel of humanity, hope, and horror, M.K. Wren displays “her passionate concern with what gives life meaning (Library Journal).
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateDec 1, 2013
    ISBN9781626811003
    A Gift Upon the Shore

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    Reviews for A Gift Upon the Shore

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Rachel takes Mary into her home and together they live through the end. Day by day they endure. Until Rachel comes up with a plan: they will preserve the thousands of books they've scavenged, their gift to the future. With this, they start to live.

      Forty years in the future, Mary takes on an apprentice and tells him the story, Rachel's story. And with this conflict in the community in which she lives comes to a head. Some ultra-religious members, steeped in their own brand of post-apocalyptic Christianity, think the knowledge Mary shares and saves is wrong.

      This book is about the difference between surviving and living. It's about what should be preserved after the ending of the world as we know it. It's about the ending of civilization and the choice of how to rebuild. And it's about an amazing gift of love left by two women for future generations.


      Provided by NetGalley
    • 4/5
      Tells the story (and the story of the story) of Rachel and Mary, who literally decide to survive the end of the world, in order to preserve (again literally) the books that represent what's left of their civilization. It is told half in flashbacks of that end time and half from the first person perspective of Mary, who now lives with a group of fundamentalist Christians, who believe there is only truth and one book worth reading. The villian of the story is a woman who takes this belief to its "logical" and lethal conclusion--her character is that perfect combination of traits, utter ignorance of history and science and the unwavering conviction that the one idea in her head is the whole and unimpeachable truth. Sound familiar? She is a caricature to be sure, and there is one other character in the book as extreme as she is, and it is Mary's conviction, and the theme of the book, that this is a form of insanity and ultimately evil. There's nothing subtle about the treatment of this theme in the book, but the other characters in it are more three-dimensional and sympathetic than the two crackpots, and the relationships between them and Mary are more complex and nuanced. The flashbacks to the apocalypse are appropriately horrific and tragic, and the glue that holds the book together is the character of Rachel, an atheist who represents everything one could ask of a friend and helper through the end of the world, or any other troubles. To call it simply a battle between religious lunacy and agnostic sanity would be an over simplification, but that's the thrust of the book, at least the parts that deal with Mary's "present." All of that said, it is beautifully written, with an almost unbearable sense of what is lost and a powerful belief in what is worth preserving. I'd recommend it to any fan of these kinds of books.
    • 2/5
      I received this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I really wanted and expected to like it; it's a reissue of a book published in 1990, and offers a more female viewpoint on the story of nuclear apocalypse and survival, even regrowth. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it: the pace is slow, the writing feels stodgy, and it feels more than a bit judgemental about Christianity -- or Christians, at least. I don't see any reason why the more Christian a character professes to be, the more dogmatic and intolerant they behave. I'm very close to some very serious, devout Christians: whatever they believe about me (the fact that I'm a Unitarian Universalist, the fact that I have a same-sex partner), they treat me with compassion and understanding. As for the writing, it's little repetitive tics that give it the sense of stodginess and clumsiness. Every other chapter for at least the first quarter of the book starts by telling us what 'Mary Hope' is doing -- bludgeoning the reader over the head with that pointed surname. To me, the structure of alternating present first person and past third person chapters felt clumsy too: quite often the one introduces the other, and yet little happens in either to justify taking up a whole chapter, let alone two.I like the idea, but I think it would have been better served by simplicity of language, structure and style.
    • 3/5
      This was an interesting book. It is not my "type" of genre in the sense of "last of earth's survivors." I did enjoy the book preservation aspects. A little too gloomy for me. But the writing was pretty good.
    • 5/5
      I read this years ago, remembered the plot and characters, but couldn't remember the title or author. Searched every used bookstore, Amazon, etc. and finally found it in my neighborhood used book store. Even better reading the second time around.
    • 3/5
      A mostly calm and quiet book with horrendous incidents. It is made more horrifying for those of us currently having to live in a culture sculptured increasingly to the tastes of Christian fundamentalists.
      I'm not in general a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction and this wasn't one of the exceptions for me for all that it is well structured and well written.
    • 3/5
      After most of humanity has been wiped out, two women try to save as many books as they can. Their efforts are threatened by the fundamentalist beliefs of a nearby human enclave and the harsh world in which they live.
    • 5/5
      Earth is nearing the End - a deadly new strain of flu, cataclysmic natural disasters, overpopulation, famine, wars. Mary Hope, a 20-something aspiring author, flees the city hoping to find refuge and solace at the beach house she inherited from her aunt. But disaster is everywhere and Mary nearly dies when the bus she is traveling on is attacked by a gang of road rovers. She is rescued by Rachel, a reclusive artist who gives Mary a home when she learns that her aunt’s home is a derelict ruin that has been overtaken by squatters. Not long after, the End does come - in the form of a nuclear bomb. Over the next decade, Mary and Rachel struggle to survive in a devastated wasteland ravaged by nuclear winter. And together they embark on a project to preserve the thousands of books that Rachel owns because they believe that these may be the only available books available for future generations (if there are any other survivors out there). And then one day a stranger arrives at their home, a man from a fundamentalist Christian cult who has gone out in search of survivors. Though his beliefs clash with the more pagan nature-based spirituality that Rachel and Mary subscribe to, Mary falls in love with Luke and decides to abandon Rachel and return with Luke to the cult. Mary is barely accepted by the 50ish members of the cult. When Rachel arrives a few months later, gravely wounded and needing medical attention, the cult leader brands her a witch and turns her away. Her eyes finally opened to the narrow-minded hate of the cult, Mary leaves with Rachel and attempts to nurse her back to health. When she fails she returns to Rachel’s home, alone, and continues the book preservation project.Several years later, members of the cult appear at Mary’s home, seeking refuge after a fever has nearly wiped out their membership. Mary accepts them into her home but only after they are willing to accept the terms of agreement she sets. The cult’s beliefs are still practiced, however, and their teachings are passed on to the next generation. Ultimately, there is a violent clash between their beliefs and Mary’s, and both her life and the books she has preserved are endangered.The story is told from two perspectives - the present, several years after the cult members arrive at Mary’s home, and the past, which is the basis for a book that Mary is writing, The Chronicles of Rachel.Mary’s development through the novel is remarkably well done - from a naïve idealistic young woman to a resilient survivor; from a woman willing to sacrifice friendship and beliefs for a chance at a new beginning to an old woman who is wise and strong with a faith that she has handcrafted from all she has endured. The author shows Mary at each of these stages of her life, making the transitions believable, and truly makes her come alive upon the pages. There is much to ponder in the story about spirituality and faith. Though on the surface the author seems to be claiming that there is something inherently wrong with Christianity as a whole (as evidenced by the beliefs and actions of the cult), I think the message is much broader than that. What is wrong is any religion that is narrow-minded, judgmental, and insular. When a belief system demands that it’s followers adhere to a particular dogma without questioning it, it becomes something damaging rather than affirming. As Mary says in the book, “When you can say ‘I don’t know’ you’ve freed yourself to find the answer.”That truly is what this story is about - a quest for truth and faith and answers. Mary has to discover spirituality, rather than blindly accepting what was right for Rachel or what was taught by the cult. She has to seek the God that can answer the questions in her own heart, just as we all do. God is multifaceted with many interpretations. And the books that Rachel and Mary preserve are an integral part of this search for truth, because in each book there are clues that lead to understanding. God is found not only in the Bible but in every volume of poetry, in every science textbook, in every novel. Near the end of the book, someone is reading the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Mary comments, “I think of the reclusive Emily reaching across an ivy-covered stone wall more than a century and a half thick to cast wildflowers in his path.”Yes, for those who know how to see, one can discover God’s beauty and grace in an Emily Dickinson poem. In addition to all this profundity, the novel is quite simply a beautiful work of art - full of vivid description and raw emotion - and it is very well crafted and well written. Though it may not appeal to everyone, for the right reader it truly is a gift.
    • 4/5
      I admit to being a bit nervous about picking up A Gift Upon the Shore by M.K. Wren. I'm always a bit wary when a book is repackaged and marketed with a pretty new cover (especially when the old cover was so horribly bad), but in addition to that, some of the reviews I glanced at spoke of the book as being decidedly anti-Christian and all I could think of was how much I hate it when religious themes crop up in books (heavily religious or anti-religious). So I began to read with some trepidation.Read the rest of this review on August 2, 2013 at The Lost Entwife.
    • 5/5
      This is a beautifully written and detailed novel about the post-apocalyptic age. It doesn't deal with the technicalities, just the general struggle of a few very interesting, beloved characters and the difficult choices they had to make. The tale did not stun me, but the words are breathtaking. Also, each chapter begins, befittingly with a quote from a famous persona that speaks to the events. This is by far one of the best books I have read EVER.
    • 5/5
      Two survivors of a nuclear apocalypse and plague, Rebeca and Mary, realize that their collection of books may be the last bastion of human knowledge left in the world. They set out to preserve their treasure, but everything changes when an explorer from a colony of religious fundamentalists arrives. His coming leads to a clash between religion and science leading one character to do almost anything to destroy the books that challenge her biblical view of the world.A good read for anyone that loves books and knowledge, some however, may be put off by the slightly negative depiction of religion.
    • 2/5
      A beautifully detailed description of a post-apocalyptic world, with a vivid rendering of the Pacific Northwest, and the process of surviving as the last of the civilized world's creations is used up - antibiotics, soap, fuel, etc. I didn't much care for the underlying concept, though. Not the book-saving part, or even the scary fundamentalist religious part, but the assumption that of course the survivors will want to reproduce, and all fertile women will want to be impregnated by any fertile men. I'm not sure that would be my wish. I should go back and read Joanna Russ's "We Who Are About To...", which I think dealt with similar themes.
    • 5/5
      Note: This review contains mild spoilers.A Gift Upon the Shore is a post-apocalyptic novel, set in the years following the utter destruction of human civilization. in a farmhouse on the Oregon coast, a small community has survived. But the age-old power struggle between knowledge and religion is still going on.The novel opens with the narrator, Mary Hope, describing her life as an old woman 40 years after humanity has destroyed itself. She lives on a seaside farm with a small group of survivors: a couple of older women, like herself; the first post-apocalypse generation, who lead the community; and their children. This is a literalist Christian group, although Mary doesn’t participate in their services. She is the children’s teacher, an arrangement she made with the group’s patriarchal leader, Jeremiah, in exchange for allowing his flock to live on the farm.Mary decides to take one of the young men, Stephen, as her apprentice. She tells him the story of the apocalypse and what happened in the years following, and is writing the story down for him to have. The novel thus alternates between Mary’s first-person account in the present and her third-person chronicle of the recent past.The young Mary came to the farm just as the world was disintegrating into chaos. Her bus was attacked by a band of “Rovers,” and Mary was rescued by Rachel Morrow, an artist who lived alone on the farm with a menagerie of animals. The two women foresaw disaster coming when their neighbors were brutally murdered, and so stocked up for survival. Then the end came: nuclear war plus a raging epidemic wiped out nearly everyone.Rachel and Mary eked out a subsistence for years, never finding another survivor. They had a purpose, though: to preserve the thousands of books they have salvaged for any future generations. They planned to seal the books up until printing was re-invented and future people had the means to reproduce them.Then a man wandered down their beach, very sick and near collapse. The two women nursed him back to health. He explained that he came from a small Christian community not far away, which anticipated Armageddon, as they called it, and thus were prepared to survive. Although it was clear that their beliefs about God and the place women were very different, Mary decided to marry Luke, as she believed it was her responsibility to have children, if she could. She moved to the compound for several months, but left when their leader and doctor refused to give a gravely wounded Rachel any medical help because he believed her to be a witch. It is Rachel’s history and beliefs that Mary particularly wants to chronicle for Stephen to teach the future generations.In the present, Mary has taken in the remnants of the religious group, after Luke and the others died of illness. But Miriam, Jeremiah’s sister and co-leader in all but title, is suspicious of Mary’s teachings and tries to discredit her any way she can. Mary soon begins to suspect that Miriam might be planning to murder her or destroy the books Rachel worked so hard to preserve.Clearly, this is a novel about women: their strengths, their weaknesses, their relationships with one another. The male characters are much less defined, and serve either as foes or as uneducated vessels, who need the wisdom of the women. By contrast, Rachel, Mary and Miriam are strong and resourceful enough to survive the worst hardships, yet remain focused on what they perceive their responsibilities to the all-but-decimated human race to be. Each woman in concerned with preservation — of culture, of education of the young, of souls — and will whatever they feel they have to, even sacrifice themselves, to remain true to their purpose.The story drives forward suspensefully, switching back and forth in time until the past catches up with the present. The main flaw is that it is presented too straightforwardly. The religious group, represented by the clearly power-mad Miriam and the ineffectual Jeremiah, seems to offer nothing of value, while Rachel and Mary are presented as singlehandedly responsible for preserving the culture of mankind. I would have preferred more nuance, more shades of gray, some alternative points of view. The author’s tendency to sledgehammer her point comes out in other ways, such as the overkill apocalypse, which really could legitimately be mistaken for Armageddon by heaping plague and earthquakes on top of nuclear annihilation.Despite these flaws, A Gift Upon the Shore is both poetic and exciting, and it is a convincing portrayal of a post-apocalyptic future. It is a worthwhile addition to the sub-genre.
    • 3/5
      This is a very well-written story of nuclear apocalypse and the aftermath for a handful of survivors. The main characters -- two independent, intelligent women -- are extremely well drawn, and the drama is compelling. My real objection is the simplistic contrast drawn between characters who are religious (and therefore portrayed as irrational and naive, and in some cases crazy) and those who are non-religious (and portrayed as wise and enlightened). It's a fault of much science fiction, but for me this is a considerable flaw that gets in the way of an otherwise excellent story.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of a group of post nuclear war survivors. It's told from the point of view of one of the two original occupents of the farm now occupied by a group religious zealots. Mary Hope is telling her life experiences to one of the young people in hopes that he will keep the quest for knowledge alive. Mary and her friend Rachel have gathered books and created a storage place to preserve them for the future. Mary finds a survivor from a religious community and then returns with him to their compound. Mary will not comform to their dogma and returns to the farm. Eventually remnants of the religious group make their way to the farm. Dogma and independence again clash with stored books at the center.This book was hard to get into at first, but it ended up being a very compeling story. It makes one think about how drastic life would change following such a catastrophe and how quickly civilization would descend into another dark age.
    • 5/5
      This is a beautifully written and detailed novel about the post-apocalyptic age. It doesn't deal with the technicalities, just the general struggle of a few very interesting, beloved characters and the difficult choices they had to make. The tale did not stun me, but the words are breathtaking. Also, each chapter begins, befittingly with a quote from a famous persona that speaks to the events. This is by far one of the best books I have read EVER.
    • 4/5
      A Gift Upon the Shore is a post-apocalyptic tale written in 1990. It is, first and formost, a tale of women both good and bad, about their strengths, their beliefs, and their role in this new apocalyptic society. Rebecca and Mary have fought off other attackers, have survived alone in Rebecca's farmhouse, and believe it is their duty to save and preserve any books they can find; Miriam, a member of a religious group which survived several miles down the shore, believes it is her duty to protect future generations from the decadence of the old world. She believes in a literal translation of the Bible and no other book should be allowed. Although the groups are led by men both at the Ark and later at the farmhouse, they tend to be either controlling or ineffective. They may lead but it is the women who are the backbone of the groups. Beyond their work, much of their importance lies in their ability to bear children although most women (and men) are sterile. Despite the clash between their other beliefs, both groups believe that the continuance of the species is what matters most.There has been some criticism of this book as anti-Christian. I am not sure that is a fair criticism. I think it would be fairer to say that the book is against the kind of religious fundamentalism that would ban all books but the Bible which is to be taken literally and that would deny science. On the other hand, it may just be that author MK Wren was just positing which groups would most likely survive an apocalypse, in this case, loners like Rebecca who live in remote areas, Survivalists, and certain religious groups who believe that the end is nigh and have prepared for the Rapture by moving to remote areas away from large cities long before any actual event. Regardless, I found the clash between fundamentalism and humanism interesting but I realize that there are many who might not.The religious aspects aside, the book is beautifully written but somewhat slow moving, more Margaret Atwood than Stephen King. Although there is some violence, it takes up very little of the story which is divided really between two narratives. Although it's Mary's voice speaking in both, in one she talks of the present as she clashes with Miriam over what is acceptable to teach the children and, in the other, she tells a young boy whom she hopes will replace her as teacher someday, the story of Rebecca. It took me awhile to get into the novel, but once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I won't say it kept me up at night but it did make me think and that's never a bad thing.

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    A Gift Upon the Shore - M.K. Wren

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