Children of the Dust

I first read this post-nuclear holocaust novel at the same time as Brother in the Land, which seemed then, as now, far more pessimistic and CND absorbed. Louise Lawrence does portray the unthinkable but she mollifies it by speculating on into the future. She takes the reader, through rial and hardship, into a time of hope, where mankind does seem to have survived and evolved in mutant form to create a new, resourceful, post-nuclear holocaust civilization - and that is made up of the children of the dust. The relative complexity of the novel and its unsubstantiated conclusions requires an experienced readership who can make the leap into fantastic speculation about something speculation about something already widely, more scientifically covered.