In a Handful of Dust
by Mindy McGinnis
The only thing bigger than the world is fear.
Lucy’s life by the pond has always been full. She has water and friends, laughter and the love of her adoptive mother, Lynn, who has made sure that Lucy’s childhood was very different from her own. Yet it seems Lucy’s future is settled already—a house, a man, children, and a water source—and anything beyond their life by the pond is beyond reach.
When disease burns through their community, the once life-saving water of the pond might be the source of what’s killing them now. Rumors of desalinization plants in California have lingered in Lynn’s mind, and the prospect of a “normal” life for Lucy sets the two of them on an epic journey west to face new dangers: hunger, mountains, deserts, betrayal, and the perils of a world so vast that Lucy fears she could be lost forever, only to disappear in a handful of dust.
In this companion to Not a Drop to Drink, Mindy McGinnis thrillingly combines the heart-swelling hope of a journey, the challenges of establishing your own place in the world, and the gripping physical danger of nature in a futuristic frontier.
“But the gray ridge of the mountains that sliced through the map was a weight on her heart, an obstacle to be met.”
In a Handful of Dust really outdid all of my expectations for what this book should have been. When I read the first book in this series, I wasn't sure what to think because even though I really enjoyed the story, the buzz that goes around some books always makes me be a little suspicious. It's not that I don't think they will be good, it just I have been disappointed so many times before.
But I am happy. Really freaking happy. We are taken forward years after the first book ends so Lynn and Lucy are a lot older and still live by the pond and protecting it just as Mother and Lynn have done before. With more people living in the area, polio has become a huge problem. Because Lucy is potentially can be a carrier of the disease, they end up leaving the pond to go to California in hopes to find happiness away from the disaster that the world has become.
The story itself feels a lot more like a road-trip. Even though it is a lot more intense since they do have to walk through the states, you can still imagine the bonfires and connections that are made between Lynn and Lucy during those night and days. Some of the characters that are being introduced along the way are very surprising and make me like the book that much more but characters like Joss and Carper, I would want to see a lot more in the story where they are.
There isn't anything specific that I didn't like in the book, I thought the style and speed was exactly what I needed at the moment. Lucy's character wasn't as likable as it was in the first book but I can understand since she is older and is going through that "teenage" stage. I do wish that Lynn wouldn't take her so seriously sometimes and not listen to her but that's a whole different story ;)
