Fledgling

Octavia Butler, the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship-winning SF author who explores complex moral choices in her work, puts her own spin on the popular vampire subgenre. Shori, a small person with the appearance of a 10- or 11-year-old child, awakens in a cave, terribly injured, brutally hungry, and without her memories. Gradually, she learns the truth: she is the only survivor of a community of Ina, vampire-like beings who shun the sunlight and exist in a symbiotic relationship with humans, feeding on their blood but extending their lives for decades in exchange. Shori herself is actually 53 years old, and the result of a genetic experiment to create darker-skinned Ina who can survive daylight exposure. Unfortunately, this new information does little to protect Shori from the mysterious assailants who massacred her family, and continue to pursue her.