"In Dreamer's Island Gretchen Hummel has created a rich, complex world that's both beautiful and scary. Reading it, I found myself caught up in a lively and humorous community of artists, craftspeople, and dreamers-who are all too aware of the dangers that menace them from outside. I couldn't put it down." --Alison Baker, winner of three O. Henry Awards and author of Loving Wanda Beaver In a post-plague, baby-hungry world Blair searches for her kidnapped daughter. She works as a tour guide on what mainlanders call Devil's Island-all that's left of a future San Francisco. The island is infamous for its high rate of plague survivors, its lively, thriving arts community, and its suspect spirituality. Islanders are fascinated by mysterious "plague-gifts" - knowledge and skills acquired by surviving the plague and are covertly experimenting with the virus. Mainlanders abhor the mere mention of anything plague-related. The island is quarantined, yet mainlanders Dr. Lourdes and his daughters insist on a visit. Their stated agenda is to shop the arts district and to adopt a child. But Dr. Lourdes's curiosity about rumored plague virus experiments has Blair worried about the true purpose of their visit. When the doctor's youngest daughter contracts the plague, Blair must call on all her plague-gifts to help her survive. The girl's fight for her life and Blair's search for her own daughter dovetail in a startling conclusion that is beyond Blair's wildest dreams.