THE SNOWS OF JASPRE

by Mary Caraker ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1989

An artificial sun awakens psychic powers on an ice planet. The original Finnish settlers, who thrived on the frozen wastes of Jaspre, resented the new settlers who arrived when parts of the planet's surface were warmed by power satellites. But they also knew that satellite radiation leakage enhanced their powers of telepathy, prescience, and telekinesis--and that if their regions were warmed by a second artificial sun, those powers would be wiped out. When Morgan Farraday arrives with her family to administer Jaspre's schools, she is caught in the conflict between townspeople who want a second satellite and the original settlers who don't. Morgan's interests become personal when her daughter, Dee, seeks out Anders Ahlwen, the leader of the psychic commune; Morgan finds herself torn between Dee, who believes in Anders, and her own husband, who thinks he is a charlatan. A plausible scientific premise, well--drawn characters, and a swiftly moving plot make this superior science fiction. Although the tensions between governmental authority and the original settlers are only lightly sketched in and the conflict too easily resolved, the strains within the family are believable, and even the 100+-year-old, Gandhi-like figure of Anders seems real as well as sympathetic.

Pub Date: March 1, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1989

Categories: CHILDREN'S