Yes, there are secrets uncovered, but it is not so much about whether you can guess them, but about what they mean for the journey, for the five astronauts, and for humanity. One thing I want to be clear on is this: this is not some kind of space mystery/thriller. While Goldilocks is definitely not a retelling, it does feel like a small attempt to imagine righting this wrong- depicting women fighting back and taking what was denied them. They were thirteen female astronauts who completed the same screening tests as the male astronauts selected by NASA for Project Mercury in 1959, in some cases outperforming the men. Coincidentally, I had just been reading about them recently. It is clearly inspired by the true story of the Mercury 13. It alternates between the present on the ship and the past, in which we see the gradual ushering of women out of the workplace the slow but sure exclusion of women from more and more jobs the steady collapse of the environment. Goldilocks is a darker book than the former, but with a much wider scope than the latter. There are hints of both in here, but do not go into this thinking it is much like either. The marketing team have gone for a The Martian (because the book talks all sciencey) meets The Handmaid's Tale (government oppressing women) angle. And, as challenging as this journey is in itself, the claustrophobic life on the ship soon unveils the secrets being kept by its crew. It's set in the near future - a future which is feeling ever more present with each day that passes - and follows a team of five female astronauts as they defy their oppressive government and take to space in hopes of reaching Cavendish, a new home for humanity. So many parts of this book hit scarily close to home. I haven't read all of her books, but I've enjoyed everything I've read so far. Laura Lam is a seriously underrated author. Those in power can worry about the larger things- that's why we voted for them. Fretting about how to pay for that leak in the roof. It was easier to push it away, to focus on the problems that could be solved. So many went about their day-to-day life with the vague unease that things were sliding past the point of no return. Goldilocks is a bold and thought-provoking new thriller for readers of The Martian and The Handmaid's Tale. When their mission is stolen from them, they steal the ship bound for the new planet.īut when things start going wrong on board, Naomi begins to suspect that someone is concealing a terrible secret - and realizes time for life on Earth may be running out faster than they feared. The problem is that they’re not the authorized crew, even if Valerie was the one to fully plan the voyage. And then there's Naomi Lovelace, Valerie's surrogate daughter and the ship's botanist, who has been waiting her whole life for an opportunity to step out of Valerie's shadow and make a difference. The team is humanity's last hope for survival, and Valerie has gathered the best women for the mission: an ace pilot who is one of the only astronauts ever to have gone to Mars a brilliant engineer tasked with keeping the ship fully operational and an experienced doctor to keep the crew alive. Even if they’ll need to steal a spaceship to do it.ĭespite 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. But a team of women are preparing to save it. The future of humanity hangs in the balance.
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