Friday 23 October 2020

 

The Sound of Stars, by Alechia Dow.              Young Adults

 


            The Aliens have landed!  In Alechia Dow’s hugely entertaining debut novel, the Ilori have taken over planet earth and enslaved the population – not in a bad way so far (and they wouldn’t have been forced to kill huge swathes of the world population if a certain power-crazy president hadn’t attacked them first, destroying a number of their space ships), but with a view to eventually feeding everyone a vaccine which will disable their minds, thus leaving their bodies ‘a perfect husk’ for rich, planet-hopping true Ilori to inhabit so that they can enjoy touring the world and its beauty in style and comfort.  All true Ilori are fabulously rich and continually looking for new places to amuse them;  earth is the latest planet to be added to their ‘to-do’ list.

            True Ilori have created minor versions of themselves, Labmade Ilori, to do the hard yards and unpleasant chores, like keeping humans in check, keeping them fed, housed and occupied until the mind-killing vaccine is perfected, and in New York City, 16 year old Janelle ‘Ellie’ Baker lives with her parents, neither of whom are handling the occupation well:  Mum has hit the booze and Dad has already been injected with a substance that has turned him into a stranger, a guard loyal only to the Ilori.  Ellie finds comfort and refuge in nothing but her forbidden, hidden library of books, wonderful stories of life as it used to be in all its imperfection – and freedom.  She lends these books secretly to others who need the succour and relief of escapism from their terrible situation;  she has a collection of music too (also forbidden, for the true Ilori don’t feel emotion.  They are neither happy nor sad.).  Music gladdens her heart;  she will survive with these treasures until the vaccine ends her life.

            Until an Ilori finds one of her books and reads it, makes contact and blackmails her into giving him some music to enjoy:  HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN???  Ilori don’t care for human pursuits, but M0Rr1S does – he has been programmed by his powerful mother to be a labmade Ilori with a difference:  he has feelings, and his secret mission is to instigate a rebellion against the true Ilori.  But he never expected to feel the overwhelming happiness of falling in love, or the terrible heartache of loss:  M0Rr1S and Ellie are truly star-crossed lovers.

Ms Dow tackles many age-old questions here:  racism (Ellie is black) greed, apathy, NIMBYism – all the usual human failings, versus trust, loyalty, love – and music and stories.  Her story is mighty!  SIX STARS.          

Saturday 10 October 2020

 

Call your Daughter Home, by Deb Spera.

 

 


           This is Deb Spera’s debut novel, though one would never tell from the accomplished ease with which she tells her lovely story, that of three very different women who are known to each other but live vastly different lives in Branchville, South Carolina in the 1920’s:  Anne Coles, educated, aristocratic – and rich, thanks to inherited money from her father, but in danger of losing it all because of the failure of the cotton crop, and her husband’s desperate venture into tobacco:  woman of colour Oretta Bootles, Anne’s renowned cook and lifelong nursemaid to Anne’s children.  Oretta and her beloved husband Odell had a daughter of their own who died of fever, as so many did at that time, but Oretta has the Sight, and hopes one day – knows one day that she and her darling will be reunited.  In the meantime, she battles on, holding the Cole’s lives together with her practicality and huge goodwill, for the Cole’s children have been blighted and damaged by life:  two daughters have left home, one son committed suicide, and the other two sons are in thrall to their tyrannical father.  It is not a happy home.

            Enter Gertrude Pardee, in desperate need of employment:  she has heard from her brother that there is employment with Mrs Cole, and is desperate to find a home for herself and her four daughters, for her life with Alvin,  the drunken lout her daddy married her off to has grown unimaginably worse since he lost his regular job and moved them all out to a swamp hut owned by his brutal father:  it’s up to her to support them, because Alvin won’t – particularly now, after the latest beating, because Gertrude shot him with her Mama’s gun:  he ain’t gonna beat any of them, ever again.  Gertrude is on the run and hoping that the swamp alligators will enjoy Alvin for supper so that there is no evidence of her crime.  Which doesn’t stop her conscience prodding her something fierce, especially when she attends the local church.

            And God hasn’t grown bored with these three singular women:  He still flings up barriers and issues impossible challenges in the shape of an early Depression and a terrible Diphtheria epidemic.  Loved ones will die and starvation will take up residence in Branchville, but all have their own ways of surviving, and it is inspiring to read how they do it.  Ms Spera based her wonderful characters on memories of her own family, and what a great family it was.  SIX STARS.