1969, a year of extraordinary events like Woodstock and the Moon Landings, but also where the Vietnam war is still raging and global superpowers teetering on the precipice of mutual annihilation. About to be caught up in the middle of this are Molly and Gene Myers, a young couple living in the quiet New England town of Amber Grove. Tragedy has caused the Myers’ marriage to go through a shaky patch but they are starting to rebuild.
Then a meteor crashes into the town. A nurse, Molly is given the care of a desperately ill patient rescued from the wreckage: an orphan boy in need of a mother; a child with an incredible appearance. Naming him Cory, the Myers soon fall in love and will do anything to keep him safe, which is good, because soon the whole world will be looking for him.
Our Child of the Stars is author Stephen Cox’s debut novel and it is a brilliant achievement: an E.T. story with echoes of Ray Bradbury, set against the backdrop of the turbulent era of the 1960s, with the Cold War and the Space Race.
The beating heart of the novel are of course the Myers and Cory himself. Molly and Gene are depicted as a fairly ordinary, left-leaning, loving couple, but this is not over-sentimentalised nor does it render them cardboard cut-outs; they are flawed, their bond has already been tested soon after we first meet them and they spend the rest of the novel repairing it and making it stronger. Keeping Cory safe from those who would do him harm also brings out different facets of their characters, making them grow as people as they have to find out what they will do and how far they will go to stand up for their principles.
Cory is an endearing fish out of water allowing us to see our world through the eyes of an outsider and, of course, there is as much that confuses or upsets him as there is that fills him with wonder and childish enthusiasm, as he is also suffering from the trauma of what happened to him and his people. It’s easy to see how the Myers fall in love with him as the reader will too. But he is not over-anthropomorphised; his physical description and occasional reminders of his psychic abilities means that he still remains sufficiently alien.
The other story thread concerns the people – government, scientists and military–investigating the crash, (as it quickly becomes obvious that is not just a meteor that crashed), as they begin to suspect that someone may have survived it, and how this also begins to tie into wider events, such as the Moon Landings (as Cox throws in a bit of alternate history). It turns out that whatever attacked Cory’s ship may have made it to Earth too. What starts out as an effort to keep Cory a secret soon becomes a thrilling chase across the country, were we find both the worst and best of humanity
The story ends in a place of positivity but with enough loose threads left tantalisingly dangling to leave you with the feeling that the larger story is not yet over and indeed, a sequel that promises to pull at those threads further and answer some lingering questions, A Child of Two Worlds, is due out June next year. Bookended by two very different Halloweens, Our Child of the Stars is perfect if you like your Autumn reads with a little bit of Sci-Fi or a lot of heart.
Our Child of The Stars is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
A lost child, the family who try to protect him and the secret that refuses to stay hidden . . .
Molly and Gene Myers were happy, until tragedy blighted their hopes of children. During the years of darkness and despair, they each put their marriage in jeopardy, but now they are starting to rebuild their fragile bond.
This is the year of Woodstock and the moon landings; war is raging in Vietnam and the superpowers are threatening each other with annihilation.
Then the Meteor crashes into Amber Grove, devastating the small New England town – and changing their lives for ever. Molly, a nurse, caught up in the thick of the disaster, is given care of a desperately ill patient rescued from the wreckage: a sick boy with a remarkable appearance, an orphan who needs a mother.
And soon the whole world will be looking for him.
Cory’s arrival has changed everything. And the Myers will do anything to keep him safe.
A remarkable story of warmth, tenacity and generosity of spirit, set against the backdrop of a fast-changing, terrifying decade.
