The Year of the Flood is a novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, released on September 22, 2009 in Canada and the United States, and on September 7, 2009, in the United Kingdom. The novel was mentioned in numerous newspaper review articles looking forward to notable fiction of 2009. The book focuses on a group called God’s Gardeners, a small community of survivors of the same biological catastrophe depicted in Atwood’s earlier novel Oryx and Crake. The earlier novel contained several brief references to the group.It answers some of the questions of Oryx and Crake and reveals the identity of the three real human figures who appear at the end of the earlier book.
The novel was generally well-received; reviewers noted that while the plot was sometimes chaotic, the novel’s imperfections meshed well with the flawed reality the book was trying to reflect. The Daily Telegraph commented that “Margaret Atwood is genuinely inventive, rather than merely clever”. In 2010, the novel was longlisted as a candidate for the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and shortlisted for the 2010 Trillium Book Award.