Return to Mark/Space
ISBN 0-688-09452-X (US hbk),,, 0-380-71015-3 (US pbk)
novel, science fiction, neurologic, memory, virus, women
Near future, Earth.
"After several fantasy novels and a number of striking SF short stories, including the Nebula Award-winning "Out Of All Them Bright Stars", Nancy Kress flared into full prominence with her first SF novel, An Alien Light . That book received widespread praise and many award recommendations. 'This quest for understanding packs more punch than the flashiest battle in space', says Locus .
"Now, in Brain Rose , Nancy Kress surpasses the high standard set by her earlier work with a novel of character set in the near future. It is a book that will please her fans and convert many new readers.
"Caroline Bohentin, Joe McLaren, and Robbie Brekke meet at a fashionable private hospital where each has signed up for a new-expensive and exclusive-procedure: Previous Life Access Surgery. This procedure removes barriers in the human brain and allows patients to recall memories from all of their previous incarnations throughout human history. But the memories are not under conscious and willful control. After the operation, each patient must begin his or her journey into the past with moments of discovery and surprise, whose meaning and significance are often unclear.
"Meanwhile, in the outside world, which is ravaged by plagues that
destroy the body's immune defenses, a crisis is building, both medically and politically. The mutated plague virus is destroying people's memories at an ever increasing rate. And only those who have had the surgery seem to be immune.
"As Caroline, Joe, and Robbie begin to remember flashes of previous lives, it becomes more and more evident that they are somehow connected to each other and that their connection has fateful implications for the entire future of the human race.
"Nancy Kress has written a written a science fiction novel of stature that will rank with such classics as Flowers For Algernon , More Than Human , and Brain Wave . [jacket blurb, US hbk, 1990]
Nancy Kress
(bio material)