THE RADIANT DARK

When extraterrestrials make contact with Earth on Feb. 3, 1980, an American family drama begins.

Carol Girard is a frustrated new mother: resentful of her husband, Jake; disappointed by her inability to bond with baby Michael; feeling trapped in a rickety house in upstate New York. Her mood is improved when signals begin appearing in the night sky, soon traced back to Ross 128 b, a planet 11 light years away. The signals are decoded via mathematics: traveling on light waves, these communications confirm intelligent life. President Jimmy Carter wins a second term as Earth becomes more united, with a worldwide effort to send a message back. The novel unspools the story of the Girard family, but the backdrop is an alternate timeline beginning in 1980: The world order changes, slang is different, tech is better, and so are the dreams of children like Michael and his little sister, Rosanna, who becomes the novel’s center as a leading scientist in this world where a populated universe is a reality. Back in small-town New York, Carol makes a permanent departure from her family and becomes a member of the Universalists, a religious cult grown from contact with Ross 128 b. Decades, and then more than a century, pass in the Girard family, which experiences tragedy and triumph; the story is perceptively told, particularly in the visceral portrayal of the damaged mother-daughter relationship. The novel’s duality in scope is fascinating; within the intimate family story, characters discuss humanity’s place in the universe, its insignificance in the scope of space and time. And though the human history of the Girards is small in the scheme of things, it is told beautifully, in emotionally complex and heartfelt storytelling.

A dollop of SF enlivens this thought-provoking family saga.