Spotlight on Mary Doria Russell

by Greg on June 6, 2009

Mary Doria Russell is a local Cleveland author who uses the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Libraries. Her first story actually covers two books — The Sparrow and Children of God — which I informally call The Sparrow Duology as there is no official series name. The entire story is in these two books. Even if you don’t like science fiction, there is a good chance you’ll fall under Mary’s spell and love The Sparrow Duology.

Each weekend I pick an Ohio author to spotlight and detail their books here. Click the mouse on the book covers to order these books from the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library.

The Sparrow	The Sparrow Author: Russell, Mary Doria Format: Trade Paperback Page Count: 408pp. Pub. Date: September 9, 1996 Publisher: Villard/Random House
Winner of the 1998 John W. Campbell Award for the Best New Writer in Science Fiction Winner of the 1997 Arthur C. Clarke Prize for Best Novel Winner of the 1997 James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Prize Winner of the 1997 British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel Winner of the 2001 Spectrum Classics, Hall of Fame Winner of the 2001 Kurd Lasswitz Preis (German Nebula) Finalist for the 1996 Book-of-the-Month Club First Fiction Award Nominated for the 1998 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award The Sparrow, an astonishing literary debut, takes you on a journey to a distant planet and to the center of the human soul. It is the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a twenty-first-century scientific mission to a newly discovered extraterrestrial culture. Sandoz and his companions are prepared to endure isolation, hardship and death, but nothing can prepare them for the civilization they encounter, or for the tragic misunderstanding that brings the mission to a catastrophic end. Once considered a living saint, Sandoz returns alone to Earth physically and spiritually maimed, the mission’s sole survivor — only to be accused of heinous crimes and blamed for the mission’s failure. In clean, effortless prose and with the captivating flashes of wit, Russell creates memorable characters who navigate a world of exciting ideas and disturnbing moral issues without ever losing their humanity or humor. Both heartbreaking and triumphant, and rich in literary pleasures great and small, The Sparrow is a powerful and haunting book. It is a magical novel, as literate as The Name of the Rose, as farsighted as The Handmaid’s Tale and as readable as The Thorn Birds.



Children of God	Children of God: A Novel Author: Banks, L. A. Format: Trade Paperback Page Count: 436pp. Pub. Date: March 24, 1998 Publisher: Villard/Random House
Winner of the 2001 Spectrum Classics, Hall of Fame Winner of the 1999 American Library Association Readers Choice Award Winner of the 1998 The Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature Finalist for the 1999 Hugo Award Mary Doria Russell’s debut novel, The Sparrow, took us on a journey to a distant planet and into the center of the human soul. A critically acclaimed bestseller, The Sparrow was chosen as one of Entertainment Weekly‘s Ten Best Books of the Year, a finalist for the Book-of-the-Month Club’s First Fiction Prize and the winner of the James M. Tiptree Memorial Award. Now, in Children of God, Russell further establishes herself as one of the most innovative, entertaining and philosophically provocative novelists writing today. The only member of the original mission to the planet Rakhat to return to Earth, Father Emilio Sandoz has barely begun to recover from his ordeal when the Society of Jesus calls upon him for help in preparing for another mission to Alpha Centauri. Despite his objections and fear, he cannot escape his past or the future. Old friends, new discoveries and difficult questions await Emilio as he struggles for inner peace and understanding in a moral universe whose boundaries now extend beyond the solar system and whose future lies with children born in a faraway place. Strikingly original, richly plotted, replete with memorable characters and filled with humanity and humor, Children of God is an unforgettable and uplifting novel that is a potent successor to The Sparrow and a startlingly imaginative adventure for newcomers to Mary Doria Russell’s special literary magic.