Anthropologist-priest Isabel Burke is called in by the ExtraSolar Corporation to travel to the barren planet of Virimund to investigate some unusual, seemingly human children, born on Virimund, who do not age, and comes to the aid of one mysterious little girl, captured by ExtraSolar, which hopes to discover the secret of her ageless existence. By the author of The Maquisarde. Reprint.
Louise Marley weaves a compelling story of a woman whose faith may be the only thing that can save a girl from certain doom.An exploratory trip by ExtraSolar Corporation to the planet Viridium goes wrong, which results in the deaths of an ExtraSolar employee and a child, a native of the supposedly unoccupied world. Mother Isabel Burke, a priest of the Order of Mary Magdalene, is assigned guardianship of a surviving child and, through her investigations, discovers the existence of a unique civilization on Viridium. Marley (The Glass Harmonica; The Maquisarde) has crafted a luminescent tale of faith under fire as Isabel and the child Oa confront their deepest fears and discover their inner truths. Unforgettable characters and a compelling plot make this essential for sf collections of any size. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Initially a conventional first-contact story, Marley's sensitive, lyrical SF novel, set on 23rd-century Earth and the oceanic world Virimund, swiftly evolves into a meditation intertwining spiritual values, godhood itself and romantic love. Marley's feminist springboard is her acceptance of Mary of Magdala, long considered a reformed prostitute, as Christ's first disciple. The Magdalenes, a celibate Roman Catholic order of women priests known as Enquirers, travel the galaxy as anthropological investigators, "to shed light into dark places." Assigned to probe Oa, a mysterious child discovered on Virimund, empathetic Isabel soon learns that Oa represents one of humanity's deepest yearnings, for the fountain of eternal youth. Torn between her forbidden love for Dr. Simon Edwards, like herself a healer, and her sacred vow of celibacy, Isabel asks Simon to help Oa escape the megaworld ExtraSolar Corporation, whose general administrator, Gretchen Boreson, has her own devious reasons to claim Oa and her few fellow "anchens," the abandoned children of Virimund. Told in alternating glimpses through Isabel's and Oa's viewpoints and reintroducing the enigmatic character Jin-Li Chung from the author's The Terrorists of Irustan (1999), the book treats feminism's central issues gently, skirting the strident swamps of passion and the fatal abyss of sentimentality, with tender insights into love and sacrifice all too rare today. Agent, Peter Rubie. (May 4) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Shopping Cart
