Published 30th April 2020 by Wildfire.
Read May 2020.
This is a future where humanity is reaping a bitter harvest. The world has been ravaged by environmental disaster, greed and oppression, and time is running out for life on Earth.
But there may be light at the end of the tunnel. A planet has been identified in the Goldilocks Zone, where conditions may be just right for humanity to start again - the planet Cavendish.
Although the current political climate is bringing more and more restrictions on the freedom of women, entrepreneur Valerie Black is heading up the first all-female mission in space. on the ground breaking ship Atalanta - one to the new promised land of Cavendish - and she has recruited her adopted daughter Naomi to take on the role of ship's botanist.
When political pressure means that the mission is snatched out of Valerie's hands and her all female crew is dropped in favour of an all male one, she is not content to let sleeping dogs lie. In fact, she and her brilliant crew of women steal the Atalanta from under the nose of NASA and head to Mars in preparation for their space-time bending jump to Cavendish.
Unfortunately, when things start to go wrong on the ship, Naomi begins to suspect that Valerie's intentions are not quite as altruistic as she has represented to her crew, and the time left for life to exist on Earth may be a lot shorter than they thought.
Can Naomi finally step out of Valerie's shadow and really make a difference, even if it means going up against the woman who she has come to look on as her own mother?
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As soon as I heard about Goldilocks, I knew I was going to love it - and dear reader, I did!
It has been described as a high-concept thriller, akin to The Martian by way The Handmaid's Tale, and I can see why. There are certainly elements which are reminiscent of both of these stellar (pardon the pun) novels, especially since Laura Lam places quite a lot of emphasis on the way women are gradually being sidelined in Naomi's time in the name of safety - and of course, Naomi is a botanist, much like dear old Mark Watney.
Undeniably, the disenfranchisement of women is important as a plot device in this book and it is one which inevitably gets the reader wholeheartedly behind Valerie and the gang when they take the decision to snatch the Atalanta and proceed with their mission as planned - take that patriarchal NASA! What do you know, women can be astronauts too! And, as such, this is a very enjoyable feminist set-up against which to play out the story, which gives Laura Lam scope to explore how an all female crew might shape the future of humanity.
However, I am am wary of comparing this with Atwood's dystopia too much, as I think it detracts from the fact this this book is a essentially a cracking space story - there is much more Martian here than Margaret, albeit with an all female crew, and the book is all the better for it.
Although the timeline goes back and forth, so we can get to know Naomi well, and get a glimpse into the kind of woman Valerie may really be underneath the steely exterior, the guts of this tale take place in space, not on Earth. And it is clear that Laura Lam has really done her homework here. This is an exciting tale, with credible detail about life aboard a space ship, and I thoroughly enjoyed the way Naomi has to use her experience and intellect to solve all kinds of problems along the way.
There is plenty of suspense and the tension builds rather nicely, with a nice little bit of long-distance romance thrown in too. I also appreciated the nice twist at the end.
Inevitably, there have been the usual rumblings about this book on some reviewing platforms from the crowd who are sniffy about women authors in the science fiction genre - other than as scantily clad bimbos - but of course, they are talking utter rubbish, as usual. This is an intelligently written, thrilling book that deserves to go onto great things, and I will be singing its praises as much as I can - and also searching out more of Laura Lam's work. Highly recommended!
Goldilocks is available to but now from your favourite book retailer, in hardback, ebook and audio formats. Buy it now, you won't be sorry!
From the cover of the book:
Ravaged by environmental disaster, greed and oppression, our planet is in crisis.
The future of humanity hangs in the balance - and one woman can tip it over.
Despite increasing restrictions on the freedoms of women on Earth,
Valerie Black is spearheading the first all-female mission to a planet in the Goldilocks Zone,
where conditions are just right for human habitation.
It's humanity's last hope for survival, and Naomi, Valerie's surrogate daughter
and the ship's botanist, has been waiting her whole life for an opportunity like this
- to step out of Valerie's shadow and really make a difference.
But when things start going wrong on the ship, Naomi starts to suspect
that someone on board is concealing a terrible secret
- and realises time for life on Earth may be running out faster than they feared . . .
This is The Martian by way of The Handmaid's Tale
- a bold and thought-provoking new high-concept thriller.
About the author:
She relocated to Scotland to be with her husband, whom she met on the internet when he insulted her taste in books. She almost blocked him but is glad she didn’t. At times she misses the sunshine.
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