Son / Lois Lowry / 393 pages / December Challenge Apocalyptic Literature

The Apocalypse has occurred and the remnants of civilization have attempted to reestablish some sense of community and order.  In one of these communities, young women are artificially inseminated and make their contribution to society by being Birth Mothers, Vessels which produce Products - babies - which are then given to couples to raise for the good of all.  When young Claire gives birth, something goes wrong and she is reassigned from Birth Mother to fish hatchery worker.  She feels and irresistible pull toward her baby who is unplaced because of his irascibility and sleepless nights.  One of the day care providers takes him home each night and Claire befriends the man and volunteers in the day care center to be near her son.  When after a year the boy has still not acclimated, the care giver's son runs away with the toddler to spare his life, and Claire follows.  She is determined to find her son and she makes a pact with the Trademaster.  She trades her youth for her son.  This dystopian novel portrays the indomitability of maternal love, the theme that all life is sacred and precious even if, and perhaps especially when, it does not conform to society's expectations.  This is the fourth book in The Giver quarter.  Written after the death of the author's son in 1995, it resounds with the sense of loss and infinite love Ms. Lowry had for her own son.