This unusual Post-Apocalyptic novel is the best book I read in 2015. There are no hordes of zombies or mad scrambles for water by nuclear-infused mutants. Instead, it's a beautiful tale of finding meaning through art and community in a world where all is lost except the human creative spirit. The following reviewer says it well.
"Because survival is insufficient," reads a line taken from Star Trek spray-painted on the Traveling Symphony's lead wagon. The genius of Mandel's fourth novel ... is that she lives up to those words. This is not a story of crisis and survival. It's one of art and family and memory and community and the awful courage it takes to look upon the world with fresh and hopeful eyes. "