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The narrators of "The Year of the Flood" are all involved with a separatist religious group known for its concern with ecology. What is the name of this group?

God's Gardeners. The Wolf Isaiahists are referred to several times as another religious group who tend towards terrorism. The Known Fruits are mentioned as a sect for rich Compound people. The Tree of Life is a market at which the Gardeners sell their organic produce and various crafts, such as soap.

The title of the book is a reference to a Gardener religious creed, the Waterless Flood. The Flood is to destroy humankind a second time, as the flood did in Genesis. What does the nature of the Waterless Flood turn out to be?

A pandemic. The pandemic, a hemorrhagic virus, was engineered by Crake of "Oryx and Crake", who is a minor character in "The Year of the Flood". It kills the vast majority of the human race, leaving only a few survivors who, for one reason or another, have an immunity.

The Gardeners maintain a garden on the roof of an abandoned pleebland building. What is their name for their garden?

Edencliff Rooftop Garden. The Garden is destroyed sometime during Year 21 (that is, four years before the Flood) by the powerful CorpSeCorps, at the same time God's Gardeners is classified as a terrorist organization and banned.

In the beginning of the novel, Ren, a former Gardener, is working in a job that is quite contrary to the ideals of her Gardener upbringing. How is she working?

As a prostitute. At the time of the Flood, Ren (who is referred to briefly in Oryx and Crake as Jimmy's one-time girlfriend Brenda) is working at a high-end sex club called Scales and Tails. She survives the Flood by virtue of being held in a sealed decontamination room.

The leadership of the God's Gardeners are called by titles with Biblical overtones. What are these titles?

Adams and Eves. The leader and founder of the Gardeners is known as Adam One. Other members of the Gardener leadership are referred to as Adams and Eves, with a numeric suffix to denote their jobs. Narrator Toby, for instance, is Eve Six, in charge of beekeeping and mushroom cultivation.

The Gardeners venerate a wide array of saints, people upon whom they have bestowed sainthood for any number of activities relating to conservation. Which of these is NOT named in the book as a Gardener saint?

Saint Henry David Thoreau. Rachel Carson was the author of "Silent Spring" and is sometimes credited with starting the modern environmental movement. Dian Fossey was a conservationist dedicated to protecting the gorillas of Central Africa; she was murdered in 1985 and is called a martyr in the book. Karen Silkwood, a union activist, is best known for her whistle-blowing regarding unsafe conditions at the Kerr-McGee nuclear plant. Thoreau is not mentioned as a saint, but as the author of the nature-idealizing "Walden", he certainly seems the type.

Several years before the Flood, the Gardeners experiences a schism which leads to the growth of a "bio-resistance" group which deviates from Gardener dogma. What is this group called?

MaddAddam. The members of MaddAddam communicate via a website called Extinctathon and create such havoc-causing bioforms as a microbe that eats asphalt and a mouse addicted to the insulation around electrical wires. They also feature prominently in "Oryx and Crake".

In preparation for the Flood, Gardeners are encouraged to maintain supplies of food and water in hidden caches known as:

Ararats. Ararats are sort of the Gardener equivalent of Cold War-era bomb shelters, meant to enable the possessors to survive the apocalypse.

Midway through the book, one of our narrators, Toby, must flee the Garden for a very unlikely place. Where does she end up?

The AnooYoo Spa. In order to escape from a violent gang member who has previously tried to kill her, Toby's identity and appearance are changed and she becomes an employee of the AnooYoo Spa.

Which of these prominent characters from "Oryx and Crake" reappears at the end of "The Year of the Flood"?

Jimmy. Jimmy, aka Snowman, is mentioned in Ren's narration, but the end of "The Year of the Flood" continues where "Oryx and Crake" left off, with Jimmy's appearance along the beach. Crake also appears briefly earlier in the narration. Oryx never appears. Bernice, a minor character in "Oryx and Crake", is a much larger figure in "The Year of the Flood".