The World Ends in Hickory Hollow

by Ardath Mayhar

Book Overview

When the bombs fell and Western civilization ended, the residents of Hickory Hollow, Texas, scarcely noticed the difference. They were already used to fending for themselves--growing their own food,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 038518753X
• ISBN13: 9780385187534
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 182 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.

Customer Reviews

a great book

This book follows the idea of Alas Babylon with a few very lucky survivors in just the right place after the Nuclear war it looks a little deeper though in what we as a materialistic society value in people and possessions and just what they are worth when the chips are down, Great read. This will be one I read over and over again.

Home spun post apocolypse survival!

I am a sucker for a good post apocolypse novel, and this more than satisfied my need for a story of survival against the odds. This is not a new novel as such - the author tells us in the introduction that it was written in the 80s, at the tail end of the cold war, when perhaps global nuclear anihilation was possible (and we do have to ask ourselves has this threat passed us by?), but it is still a fresh and intelligent novel nonetheless. The plot is simple enough - a family who has decided to return to their farming roots are relatively untouched by the problems of global destruction, and are well placed to continue with the sort of down-to-earth pragmatism that you would expect from such practical folk. They form a small community with other locals they have rescued, particularly the elderly and the young - with the former providing many useful skills and knowledge that had been for the most part lost to the modern world. They survive very nicely, fighting off the occasional violent raids of a group of people who had lived ostracised from society prior to the bombs, and who raid causing indiscriminate death and destruction. This is an entertaining and engaging novel for the genre; if I give it 4 stars instead of 5, it is because the "home spun" style of storytelling means that we don't get any insight into what has happened outside of the small community, nor any into what is driving the evil doers who rampage without seeming thought or logic. However, it is very entertaining and well written, and I recommend it not just for fans of the genre, but for those who enjoy a tale which celebrates skills and community perhaps now gone.