Parable of the Sower (novel)

Parable of the Sower is a 1993 science fiction novel by American writer Octavia E. Butler, the first in a two-book series. Set in the 2020s where society has largely collapsed due to climate change, growing wealth inequality, and corporate greed, Parable of the Sower centers on a young woman named Lauren Oya Olamina who possesses what Butler dubbed hyperempathy or "sharing" - the ability to feel pain and other sensations she witnesses.