Sisters of the Vast Black

Sisters of the Vast Black
Lina Rather, 2019

Premise: A novella about nuns in space. It's really good.

I can't remember how this got onto my to-read list, but I'm glad it did. Somewhat in the tradition of many of the early Hugo winners, this novella explores the role of religion in an imagined space-faring future. And, of course, it also mirrors the problems of today.

The women who live on the spaceship Our Lady of Impossible Constellations are Roman Catholic nuns, not members of some imaginary future religion. And like nuns throughout history, they don't always agree with the Catholic Church's stance, and don't always obey orders. 

Just a few examples with a few minute's Google:

• The Nuns Who Defied Vatican’s Order to Be Silent: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-aug-05-mn-30832-story.html
• Vatican crackdown on U.S. nuns a long time brewing: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-vatican-nuns/vatican-crackdown-on-u-s-nuns-a-long-time-brewing-idUSBRE83J1B720120420
• Thousands of Catholic nuns unite to ‘wholeheartedly’ declare trans people are beloved by God: https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/04/05/catholic-nuns-trans-letter/

In the normal course of their work, this small group of women travels to far-flung communities to perform weddings, baptisms, and blessings as well as plenty of general charity work such as equipment repair and healthcare assistance.

This story follows them through a short tumultuous period to a crisis point. Each woman's reasons for joining the order are called into question and they each must choose what is truly the right thing to do. The horror of the various reveals in the third act is not diminished, but rather emphasized by the heavy foreshadowing throughout. 

Despite everything, I found this to be a fundamentally optimistic book about people doing the best they could for each other out on the final frontier.

4 Stars - A Very Good Book