World Made by Hand

World Made by Hand is set in a near-future America devastated by a cascade of catastrophes. The story is narrated by Robert Earle, a former corporate executive turned carpenter who lives in Union Grove, a small town in upstate New York's Washington County. A bomb in Los Angeles collapsed the economy, oil imports ceased, a war in the Holy Land triggered a military coup, a second bomb destroyed Washington, D.C., and a pandemic called the Mexican flu killed vast numbers of people. Electricity, mail, and telecommunications have disappeared. The town's population has fallen by three-quarters, and farming is the only source of food. Robert lost his wife Sandy to encephalitis and his daughter Genna to the flu. His son Daniel left home two years earlier and has not been heard from since.

One summer evening, Robert and his closest friend, Loren Holder, the town's Congregational minister, encounter Brother Jobe, a middle-aged Southern preacher driving a horse-drawn cart. Brother Jobe reveals that he has purchased the defunct Union Grove high school for his followers, a religious sect called the New Faith Brotherhood Church of Jesus, 73 adults who have migrated from Virginia. Robert's private life involves a weekly sexual arrangement with Loren's wife, Jane Ann Holder, who is in deep despair over the death of her daughter and the disappearance of her son. The arrangement is tacitly accepted by all three.

Union Grove is shaped by competing factions. Wayne Karp, a former trucker, controls the general supply, a salvage operation run from the old town landfill, and lives in Karptown, a former trailer park housing about 100 followers. Stephen Bullock, the wealthiest landowner in the area, runs a self-sufficient plantation near the Hudson River with roughly 50 workers and has been elected magistrate but refuses to serve. Dale Murray, the town's ineffectual mayor, and Heath Rucker, the drunken constable, provide no real governance.

The central conflict ignites when Shawn Watling, a young farmhand and musician, is shot and killed at Wayne's general supply by a guard named Bunny Willman. Robert is inside the store and does not witness the shooting. Wayne forces Robert to haul the body back to town and presses the murder weapon into his hands. Robert hides the gun under a bridge and delivers the body to Dr. Jerry Copeland, the town's only physician. Robert, Loren, and Jerry break the news to Shawn's young widow, Britney Watling, and her seven-year-old daughter Sarah. Robert stays up all night building the coffin. Despite outrage, no investigation follows.

At Shawn's funeral, Brother Jobe and all his followers fill the church. He interrupts the graveside service with a psalm about divine judgment and criticizes Loren's choice of major-key hymns, sparking a theological confrontation. Robert accompanies Brother Jobe to visit Bullock's plantation, which features hydro-powered electricity and extensive agriculture. Bullock reveals that his latest trade boat crew has gone missing on the Hudson near Albany. Brother Jobe offers his men, including Holy Land veterans, to search, and presses Bullock to assume his duties as magistrate. Bullock deflects. On the ride home, Brother Jobe calls Bullock "a dangerous man" (92).

When a fire destroys the Watling house, Robert rushes inside to rescue Britney and Sarah, catalyzing his emergence as a leader. He calls a meeting of the town trustees, who confront Dale Murray about the school sale: It was structured as a 10-year option at $5,000 per year with no cash paid upfront. Robert proposes that the New Faith work on civic projects, starting with the water system, in lieu of payment. Jason LaBountie, the town veterinarian, nominates Robert for mayor, and the trustees vote Dale out, installing Robert with all trustees except Dale in favor. Loren is elected constable. Before departing to find Bullock's missing boatmen, Robert agrees to let Britney and Sarah move into his house.

Robert rides south toward Albany with four New Faith men: Brothers Joseph, Elam, Seth, and Minor. They pass through deserted towns and encounter scenes of human desperation. In Albany, the waterfront has fallen under the control of Dan Curry, a young warlord who runs a hostage and extortion racket. Robert and Joseph find Bullock's four crewmen imprisoned beneath Curry's headquarters. Curry demands half a million dollars for their release. At the state capitol, Lieutenant Governor Eugene Furman, the only remaining government official, confirms no authority can challenge Curry. Joseph executes a violent rescue, shooting Curry and his secretary while Seth and Elam free the prisoners in a firefight. Robert shoots a man who fires at him. The group flees Albany with the freed boatmen.

Back in Union Grove, Brother Jobe and a combined crew have repaired the town water system with new concrete pipe cast by Bullock. Bullock hosts a large celebration to honor the boatmen's rescue, and the entire community gathers for food, music, and dancing. While the town is at the festivities, however, Wayne Karp and his men burglarize houses in Union Grove and sexually assault Britney.

Robert and Loren discover two separate offenses: The New Faith barbershop forcibly shaved 11 men, and Karptown members stole valuables from numerous households. Brother Jobe takes Robert to meet Mary Beth Ivanhoe, the New Faith's clairvoyant spiritual leader, who knows Robert's name without introduction and reveals his Jewish ancestry. Robert stages a public arrest of Brother Jobe for the forced shavings, then walks to Karptown with Loren to serve warrants on Wayne. Wayne refuses to comply and subjects them to brutal punishment: He forces Loren onto stocks mounted on a spinning platform, allowing his followers to strike Loren with implements, and dumps a bucket of human waste over Robert. They stagger home, and Loren has severe internal injuries.

Robert mobilizes Brother Joseph and the New Faith men. Dr. Copeland performs emergency surgery on Loren. Joseph leads approximately 17 mounted men to Karptown in a nighttime raid. In the firefight, Brother Minor is killed by Wayne. The men bring Wayne back alive and lock him in a jail cell across from Brother Jobe. Robert confronts Wayne with the revolver and tells him that if Loren dies, Robert will kill him.

The next morning, Brother Jobe's cell is empty despite the lock still in place. Wayne is dead in his locked cell with two wounds, one destroying his right eye and another in his mouth, but no bullets are found in his body. Dr. Copeland reveals that Wayne's wounds are identical, down to the millimeter, to those that killed Brother Minor. Robert finds Brother Jobe on a hilltop above the school. Jobe deflects all questions, attributing Wayne's death to divine justice, and reveals that Minor was his son. Robert breaks down weeping.

In the weeks that follow, Loren recovers but confides that he has lost his faith. He and Brother Shiloh, one of the New Faith men, begin converting the old mill into the community laundry Loren had long envisioned. Robert offers a false account at a coroner's inquest, and the matter is closed. Karptown's residents do not retaliate, consumed by internal power struggles. Bullock resumes trade with Albany. Britney and Robert settle into genuine domestic life. Robert teaches Sarah to play the fiddle, returns to his carpentry, and reflects that the summer, marked by both hardship and unexpected fortune, represents the beginning of a world being built by hand.