Second paragraph of third chapter:

The kitchen crew filled plates with scrambled eggs, scones, and fresh fruit for Renzie and Tuck. They seated themselves in the stark unadorned room that served as the dining commons.

Michaela Roessner won the John W. Campbell Award (as it then was) in 1990 on the strength of her first novel, Walkabout Woman; Vanishing Point was her second novel of four. She was actually first well known as an artist who produced quite a lot of SF illustrations in the first half of the 1980s. She doesn’t seem to have published any new fiction since 2011. I picked this up at Eastercon in 2022 in order to try a new woman writer.

I’m conscious that my last few reviews on here have been somewhat negative, so I’m, glad to say that I thought Vanishing Point was rather good. It is set in California, thirty years after the mysterious vanishing of ninety per cent of the human race. A small community of researchers based in the Winchester House (or something very like it) is trying to work out what actually happened. A woman scientist from farther east joins them after a dangerous trek across country. They are beset by fanatics who think that the Vanishing was the Christian fundamentalist Rapture. Everyone is suffering post-traumatic disorientation and survivors’ guilt. It’s all very nicely and credibly put together. I see a couple of reviewers complaining that the science doesn’t make sense, but really, it’s all handwavium anyway, isn’t it?

You can get Vanishing Point here.

This was my top unread book acquired in 2022. Next on that pile is Elfland, by Freda Warrington.