Parable of the Sower — Octavia E. Butler

Lauren Olamina is an empath, crippled by the pain of others. Cloistered inside the neighborhood enclave in a U.S. where the distance between the have and the have-nots has widened to a gaping chasm, she lives a protected life. But one night, violence explodes, and the walls of her neighborhood are smashed, annihilating Laurens. Family and friends -- all she loves and knows.

Now the empathy must face the world outside. Leading a tiny band of desperate followers through a thousand miles of Hell, she is a prophet bearing nothing but the promises of new life and a new faith...Earthseed.