A little more than a century from now, the world has been utterly transformed. After years of slowly overtaking the continent, starting with the great coastal cities, rising floodwaters have left America an archipelago of mountaintop colonies surrounded by a deep expanse of open water. Civilization as it once was is gone. Bands of pirates roam the waters, in search of goods and women to breed. Some join together to create a new kind of society, while others sail alone, barely surviving.

A compulsively readable novel of dark despair and soaring hope, After the Flood is a magnificent, action-packed, and sometimes frightening odyssey laced with wonder—an affecting and wholly original saga both redemptive and astonishing.

The Iowa City Book Festival is organized by the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature. Iowa City is one of just 20 Cities of Literature in the world, and the Iowa City Book Festival celebrates books and writing by leveraging the unique mix of local resources that helped to earn that designation.