num_pages: 408
description: The Sparrow, an astonishing literary debut, takes you on a journey to a distant planet and to the center of the human soul. It is the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a twenty-first-century scientific mission to a newly discovered extraterrestrial culture. Sandoz and his companions are prepared to endure isolation, hardship and death, but nothing can prepare them for the civilization they encounter, or for the tragic misunderstanding that brings the mission to a catastrophic end. Once considered a living saint, Sandoz returns alone to Earth physically and spiritually maimed, the mission's sole survivor--only to be accused of heinous crimes and blamed for the mission's failure.In clean, effortless prose and with captivating flashes of wit, Russell creates memorable characters who navigate a world of exciting ideas and disturbing moral issues without ever losing their humanity or humor. Both heartbreaking and triumphant, and rich in literary pleasures great and small, The Sparrow is a powerful and haunting book. It is a magical novel, as literate as The Name of the Rose, as farsighted as The Handmaid's Tale and as readable as The Thorn BirdsDescription from inside jacket
language: English
title: The Sparrow
titlecomplete: The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1)
characters: Jimmy Quinn, Felipe Reyes, D.W. Yarbrough, John Candotti, Vincenzo Giuliani, Sofia Mendez, Emilio Sandoz, Alan Pace, Anne Edwards, Edward Behr, George Edwards, Supaari, Hlavin Kitheri, Marc Robichaux, Askama, Johannes Voelker
genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Religion, Speculative Fiction, Book Club, Aliens, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adult, Novels, Fantasy
ratings_count: 73516
places: Naples, Borgo Santo Spirito, Rome, San Juan, Arecibo, Rakhat
series: The Sparrow
awards: awardedAt: 883641600000
name: Arthur C. Clarke Award, awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis
category: Foreign Novel, awardedAt: 852105600000
name: British Science Fiction Association Award
category: Best Novel, awardedAt: 852105600000
name: John W. Campbell Memorial Award
category: Best Science Fiction Novel, awardedAt: 820483200000
name: James Tiptree Jr. Award, awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Puddly Award
category: Science Fiction
publisher: Villard