The Child Goddess

by Louise Marley

Book Overview

A priest and anthropologist, Isabel Burke has been called to the barren planet of Virimund. The ExtraSolar Corporation, developing Virimund as an energy source, has encountered an "incident" that has stopped their work...There is human life on Virimund after all-and there are children born here who do not age. One little girl has been captured by ExtraSolar, which hopes to discover the secret to her ageless existence. For ExtraSolar, she's a resource...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0441011365
• ISBN13: 9780441011360
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 324 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful writing. I'm ordering more Louise Marley books.

I just finished reading this book for the first time. It will go on the bookshelf with the others I reread. The touch is deft. Not too sentimental, but very engaging. The settings are many layered and believable. The charcters are emotionally satisfying. She can write people who are flawed and true to life. Growth is described in some of them. Like in the real world, not everyone chooses to grow. I've just found a new women science fition writer! I'm happy.

Science fiction with heart

What a moving, lovely story! This is the first book I've read by Louise Marley, and I'm anxious to seek out her other works. "Child Goddess" centers around the relationship that grows between Isabel, a priest in the female Order of Mary Magdalene, and the offworlder child Oa, who is kidnapped from her home planet and brought back to Earth. The descendent of African colonists, Oa and the other children of Virimund are unique and very, very valuable - they do not age past childhood. Oa's abduction is, of course, prompted by the greed of those who see her as the source of a Fountain of Youth, and Isabel must fight to protect her young charge from the exploitation of those who see her as a "creature" and not a human child. Oa is a delight, an "old child" whom Marley has actually managed to make believable as a little girl - an incredibly difficult task, to judge by the number of authors who can't seem to manage it. What is to everyone else a wonderful gift is, to Oa, a source of shame, and her attempts to hide her "secret" from Isabel are heartbreaking. Isabel herself is a richly drawn, complex character - a devoted priest who is still not recognized by conservative Catholics, a celibate doing penance for an affair with a married doctor, a Mother who finds herself fiercely loving an eternal child. This sci-fi book has more heart than anything I've read in a long, long time. Enchanting, touching, bold, and richly told - I loved every page.

Splendid Twist on "First Contact" SF from Marley

Louis Marley makes a triumphant return to the universe she created in her 1999 novel, "The Terrorists of Irustan", which is a magnificient twist on the classic science fiction "First Contact" tale; it is simply more than that since it is an elegant examination of humanity, faith and romantic love too. In Isabel Burke, the Catholic priest who must choose between the dictates of her faith and her love for a doctor trapped in a marriage to someone he no longer loves, Marley has created one of her most mesmerizing characters; one worthy of favorable comparison to those created by authors as diverse as Ursula K. LeGuin and Mary Doria Russell. On the oceanic world of Virimund which is thought to be uninhabited, Extra Solar workers have unexpectedly come across a lost colony of human children on a remote island. One of the children, the girl Oa, is brought back to earth and held in quarantine for over a year, until her existence is brought to the attention of the Magdalene order of Catholic priests. Mother Isabel Burke, a medical anthroplogist - and Magdalene priest - is sent to investigate and soon becomes Oa's guardian, enlisting the aid of her former lover, Dr. Simon Edwards, a world government medical official, who will make a surprising discovery about Oa's true chronological age and origins. In a surprising twist of events which will lead first to tragedy and then hope, Oa will finally realize what it means to be human. Louis Marley has truly become one of the most interesting writers working today in the field of science fiction and fantasy. Her lyrical prose is almost as finely written as any from the likes of Ursula LeGuin or Joanna Russ. I found her latest novel simply impossible to put down, reading it in a short span of a few days. It's unquestionably among the finest science fiction novels published last year. And it is one which surely begs a sequel, which I hope will be forthcoming from Ms. Marley.

Story of love and faith

This is really a novel of love, love between a man and a woman, love for a child, love of God. Isabel Burke's journey is one of self-discovery as well as courage, and Oa of Virimund, the old child, makes her own journey of devotion, in the face of terrible struggles. These characters will catch you up in their story, and stay with you long after you turn the last page. Highly recommended.

very entertaining look at a futuristic outer space society

In the distant future energy is needed to keep the expansion of the human race into the galaxy going. Power parks on uninhabited planets are built to supply that need. On the planet Virmund, a colony of lost children is discovered but nowhere on that orb are any adults. The Extra Solar Corporation, responsible for the building of the power park, takes back one of the children, keeps her in isolation, and runs medical tests for fourteen months.Isabel Burke, a priest in the order of Magdalene, is appointed as guardian for the child. However from the time she makes contact with the child, she is also put in isolation, unable to communicate in person with anyone from the outside. Thanks to the help of a gentle worker in the complex, Isabel is able to make contact with her ex-lover. Simon who has a lot of political clout is also a highly regarded physician. He discovers that Oa is over hundred years old but acts and thinks like a child and the powers that be want the secret of her inability to grow old. A group flies to Virmund to find out what is keeping the children young and killing the adults on the planet. Louise Marley has written a very entertaining science fiction novel that deals with current social issues such as women becoming priests in the Catholic Church. The mystery of the children on Virmund is handled in a believable way using scientific methods based on research used today. The children who have no desire to be Peter Pans want to experience the wonders of aging. The tale belongs to the heroine facing adversity but determined to do the right thing.Harriet Klausner