The Year of the Flood

Toby is one of the novel’s two female protagonists and narrators. When she is at college studying Holistic Healing, her mother contracts a mysterious disease invented by the Corporations, and her family spends all their money on treatment, to no avail. Shortly after her mother dies, Toby’s father commits suicide, and Toby finds herself orphaned and penniless. She finds a job at a restaurant chain called SecretBurger, where her sadistic boss Blanco repeatedly rapes her. Driven to despair by his abuses, she finds safety with a group of environmentally oriented fundamentalists called the God’s Gardeners, who invite her to live with them in the Edencliff Rooftop Garden.

At first Toby is reluctant to accept the Gardeners’ teachings, and she pretends to be one of them only because they provide her with shelter and are kind to her. But with hard work and diligence, Toby soon earns the respect of her fellow Gardeners and accepts the position of Eve Six, which puts her in charge of the Gardeners’ medical potions. Toby’s knowledge, common sense, and resourcefulness keep her and other Gardeners alive both before after the pandemic.