The Radiant Dark

Oliva (Forget Me Not) blends a quiet family drama with a spellbinding saga of extraterrestrial contact in her alluring latest. Growing up poor in the Adirondacks, Carol Girard hoped for a better life. Instead, she settled down with a dependable but emotionally cold husband in their hometown. After giving birth to their first child, Michael, four weeks early in 1980, Carol experiences debilitating postpartum depression, exhaustion, and feelings of inadequacy. A few weeks later, flashes of light and a radio signal in the sky emanating from the constellation Virgo lead scientists to theorize that aliens from the star Ross 128, 11 light years away, are communicating with Earth. Carol, born under the zodiac sign Virgo, feels connected to the aliens, which humans call Rossians. Two years later, Earth sends a reply, beaming out a picture of the solar system. Over the course of decades, the narrative tracks how Carol’s daughter, Ro, becomes an astrophysicist to decipher a message sent by the Rossians in 2005. The extended depiction of Carol’s frustrated life doesn’t quite gel with the alien story line, but the novel picks up speed with Ro on the case, and Oliva imbues the story with a genuine sense of hope that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe. This will fascinate readers. Agent: Lucy Carson, Friedrich Agency. (Apr.)