Z For Zachariah
Robert C O'Brien
Filmed as: Z For Zachariah (BBC TV 1984)
Nuclear war has devastated America, except for the valley where Ann has been living alone - until a scientist (Loomis) in a radiation-proof suit arrives. His behaviour towards her becomes increasingly threatening. Although there may be no one else alive, Ann steals his suit and leaves in search of humanity.
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
"In Z for Zachariah, a post-holocaust novel of considerable sensitivity, a solitary surviving adolescent girl comes to realise that she cannot make a life with the male survivor who has entered her quiet valley; she eludes his attempt at rape and travels across the desolated landscape in search of other survivors. It is a fine book, morally complex, and not simply a story of good verses evil; the girl's victory is ambiguous. Richard O'Brien died before the novel was quite finished; it was completed by his family."
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updated february 2010