In this series, an event has happened that has rendered the world back into a state where there is no technology. Honestly, I can't remember what that is because it's been years since I read the first book in the series. So, people have to go back to the old ways of doing things to produce food and live, and there's no modern medicine (no pharmaceuticals, no vaccines, etc.). In this book, set in Union Grove, an early spring is a challenging season when fresh food is scarce and the winter stores are dwindling. The town is also struggling because a trade route has been halted by a local plantation tycoon. Adding to this is the arrival of a group of people that call themselves the Berkshire People's Republic. These people are anti-establishment (of any kind, but apparently not including their own group and way of doing things) and hyper-liberal. Basically, this last book in this series is about survival, not just against nature and a challenging way of life, but also against insurrection.
The first book in this series came out in 2008 and I have enjoyed the series, even though it's usually a few years in between books. I like the idea of a society forced back into doing things without the aid of technology, and also enjoy that in this series, we don't have some kind of nasty cataclysmic after-effect (other than what you'd expect with no medicine, etc.). The books also don't have the same feel as The Emberverse series (Dies the Fire) by S.M. Stirling, which have a really dark tone (although they do show the triumph of people who are member of the SCA). This last book was . . . a little meh. It was interesting enough to read, but I never connected with most of the characters and actually really disliked the characters in the group of the Berkshire People's Republic. I think you're supposed to really dislike them, but one or two were awful to the point of caricature.
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