Kirkus-style Review

            The Book of Strange New Things begins with Peter, a pastor, who embarks of the mission of the lifetime, to serve as a preacher galaxies away from his wife Bea. This work calls him to engage with the native population as his Bible is their “book of strange new things” and he also works within the parameters set by the USIC, a mysterious corporation that has funded this mission.

            Letters from his wife Bea cause Peter anxiety and struggle because life of Earth is falling apart as several natural disasters, earthquakes and typhoons, affect her life in England. Governments are also crumbling, and her faith begins to falter as she struggles with being alone and pregnant without Peter at her side, while Peter struggles with maintaining a connection with life on Earth as he teaches them about “the book of strange new things”. He also struggles with meeting the needs of his alien congregation with the desires of the USIC as he tries to also meet the needs of a desperate Bea, whose loneliness simply grows in Peter’s absence.

            The Book of Strange New Things is replete with emotion and the complexity that comes with a distance that tests a love that will endure.  It is written with extreme pathos as Peter and Bea both face struggles because of their otherworldly distance. This novel also reminds us of the responsibility that we must have to those that we love and wish to remain connected with.