Light from Other Stars

In her ravishing sophomore novel, Light From Other Stars, Erika Swyler examines the enduring power of love in the midst of tragedy. Nedda Papas, an intelligent 11-year-old girl who is obsessed with all things outer space, is horrified as she watches live coverage of the failed 1986 Challenger launch. Her father Theo, a former NASA physicist, is preoccupied with Crucible, an experimental machine that he hopes will control time; inspired by an ever-present grief for his son Michael who died minutes after birth a decade earlier, Theo dreams of using Crucible to lengthen his beloved daughter’s life. But when Crucible casts a kind of spell over the entire town of Easter, Nedda must rely on the help of her mother Betheen, a chemist-turned-baker, to save the town. But salvation will come at a terrible cost. Swyler interlaces this storyline with glimpses of Nedda’s distant future aboard Chawla as she and three others work to fix the spacecraft’s life support system.

Light From Other Stars transcends the sci-fi genre; Swyler’s gorgeous writing expresses memory and feeling in a very precise and captivating way. Each character as well as their relationships with each other is fashioned with extreme actuality. While obviously well researched, some of the sci-fi elements seem unclear and incomplete; however, it is evident that Swyler is a natural at crafting transportive fiction. A poignant exploration of family and friendship, Light From Other Stars is unforgettable.