In the early to mid eighties, an English teacher assigned us a small book. A girl/woman was living in a rural valley when Very Bad Things happened to the planet (nuclear war?). She and her valley were spared due to the geology and topology of the region. All was well, or at least well enough for the set-up of the book.
Then a man came along, initially I believe in a radiation or some sort of hazard suit. Perhaps that was just a line or two in the story and played no part … I may merely recall it from a dim impression of the book’s cover.
After his arrival, he plays the role of the antagonist. What he did specifically, I don’t remember. Think Lord of the Flies/Day of the Triffids/Blindness-type bad things.
That is all I can go on. Sorry for the extraordinarily scant details — I realize it’s a long shot. I was talking with my mom earlier, the book came up in conversation, and now I really want to remember its name.
I know the book you mean. Stuffed if I can remember the title (!)
It was made into a TV series/movie. I very strongly remember a scene where she cuts off her hair after realising that the rest of her family, after going to see what’s out there, aren’t coming back.
I thought for a second it was another John Wyndham one, but no.
I read that too, and remember it more vividly than I ought to, all these years later. Z for Zachariah: Z for Zachariah - Wikipedia
ETA: curse you for stealing my thunder, Aspidistra! ::shakes fist impotently::
Man, I thought for once that I was going to get the scoop on the obscure book title. I remembered that book right away and I remember enjoying it. But I was too slow.
Whatdoyoumean? Youwerefirst. Allglorytothehypnotoad.
(On a complete side note, what about a similarly timed/aged book about a guide who takes a bighorn sheep (?) hunter out in the desert and ends up fighting for his life?)
(On a REALLLY complete side note, what about grade school reading primers with Sam Anne, and Ted who in later grades befriended a couple called the Roundabouts who took them on a tour of Greek mythology?)
I had to read that one too. Deathwatch by Robb White.
We read Z for Zachariah in 5th grade and it was creepy. There is an ambiguous scene where the guy grabs the girl when she’s sleeping and our teacher had to tell us “He did NOT rape her!” I guess we were advanced 5th graders.
Can I Play? I am trying to remember the name of this ?YA novel? Short story? It also involves a nuclear holocaust and a protected valley.
However in this one the girl lives with several family members, and a few other townsfolk. Her parents are constantly worried she is coming down with radiation sickness. They are always asking her about this burn on her hand. The narrator goes to the post office and finds a letter for her parents.
You have just put the kibosh on a 12 year long quest to rediscover this book. What to do with my life now… I AM VINDICATED!
By the way, when we finished reading Z for Zachariah we got started on an equally excellent apocalypse story called The Girl Who Owned a City, can’t remember by whom, about a virus that kills off all adults, leaving children to rebuild their own version of society. From what I remember, it got pretty violent too
I thought the OP’er was talking about one of my very favorite childhood books, The Turning Place by Jean Karl.
A series of interconnected short stories, The Turning Place starts with the destruction of almost all humanity by an alien race, leaving only a few pockets of people on an otherwise poisoned planet. The stories then go forward in time as the Earth recovers and the new human race evolves, which then must decide how to interact with the alien race that nearly destroyed them. One of the earliest stories in the narrative, when the planet is still mostly poisoned, has a very similar plot to Z for Zachariah.
