Children of God »

A paleoanthropologist with specialties in bone biology and biomechanics, Mary Doria Russell did field work in Australia and Croatia and spent four years writing computer manuals before kicking off her writing career with her acclaimed debut novel, The Sparrow. Her latest novel -- the first in seven years -- is A Thread of Grace, is set in Italy during the dramatic finale of World War II.

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 So-ciety 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...

San Francisco Chronicle

Brilliant...Powerful...An outstanding natural storyteller.