Califia's Daughters

Boy I do not know how I missed this for so many years, but am grateful once again to the book blog from Powell's Bookstore in Portland for bringing it to my attention! This is Laurie R. King, writing as Leigh Richards, and she is simply a wonderful story teller, whether it is the slightly fanciful Mary Russell/ Sherlock Holmes mysteries, or her darker contemporary novels. The title is taken from the name of the Amazon queen, Califia, in Garci  Rodríguez de Montalvo's multi-volume tale, translated as The Labors of a Very Brave Knight  Esplandián.

In the latter part of the 21st century, the population has been decimated by the inadvertent release of bio-agents when terrorist groups opposed to technology started burning libraries and bombing labs. Another unexpected consequence is that one of the viral pathogens attaches itself to men only and is passed along generation to generation. As the book opens, 90% of the population is women. Men are protected and hidden like precious commodities. Outside of a few recreated cities, people live largely as they did in the 1900's with very basic machines (wind mills, etc.) and rely on farming and trading to survive. It is a largely lawless country and you travel at your peril and are always wary of strangers. So when a couple of covered wagons, accompanied by a guard of a dozen women, and carrying the "gift" of a man and boy come to the secluded Valley in south central California, they are initially greeted by just a few of the 100+ people living there. The travelers are asking permission to move their community south from Oregon because the radiation is poisoning the rivers, and an aggressive woman named Queen Bess is moving relentlessly south from Portland to take over every community that cannot fend off her army.
Dian, head of security for the Valley, begins to fall in love with their newest arrival, Isaac, and so it is harder than expected when she leaves to covertly investigate the group from Oregon before the Valley community offers final acceptance. The journey north is full of surprises starting with an abandoned female infant found at a crossroads. She is ambushed, badly wounded, loses her beloved wolfhound Culum, but is rescued by a man, Robin, living alone in the woods, disguised as a woman. When he is kidnapped by Destroyers, she is forced to go to Ashtown to find him and repay the debt of life she owes. This tale is realistically wrought, fast-moving and so well-developed that you will be looking for these characters after you close the book.