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The Family Tree

Sheri S. Tepper

This technically polished novel ingeniously combines elements from traditional quests, fables, and novels. A seemingly rhetorical question is posed in chapter 1: Why did sociable, smart Dora Henry marry cold, controlling Jared Gerber? But that question is the key to the book and to the parallel stories told by Sheri Tepper. The sets of characters unravel their separate puzzles until all become different aspects of the same web of events, shaking the reader's, and Dora's, perceptions to the core. Tepper's linguistic sleight-of-hand with metaphor and image is breathtaking; her storytelling is deft and funny; her characters are memorable and sympathetic. Topical, mythical, archetypal, and provocative, this is a book no fantasy or science fiction reader should miss.
The Margarets (Gollancz S.F.)

Sheri S. Tepper
After Long Silence (Spectra Series)

Sheri S. Tepper
Grass (S.F. Masterworks)

Sheri S. Tepper
Beauty

Sheri S. Tepper

Beauty is the half mortal, half fairy daughter of a 14th century English duke. A fairy curse puts the entire household into an extended sleep, but Beauty escapes using a magic cloak. Outside the castle, she is captured by a film crew from the 21st century who have come to film the end of magic. Beauty lives for a while in the overpopulated, ugly 21st century where nature has been completely destroyed by humans and magic no longer works. She escapes, and her subsequent adventures take her to imaginary countries, the land of Faery, the late 20th century (where she is brutally raped), and to various times during her own century where her descendants become, in turn, Cinderella, Snow White and the Frog Prince.
Like much of Tepper's fiction, this book is driven by a controlled fury. She sees the destruction of beauty all around us by those who believe humanity has a right to use up the rest of nature, and this book is a stark warning that if we don't change our ways we will destroy the world. Her heroine is the guardian of all that is beautiful in the world, of all that is being devoured by human greed. An angry novel, it makes its point heavy-handedly in places, but with great poignancy overall. It's a powerful and thought-provoking read. Elizabeth Sourbut
The Gate to Women's Country

Sheri S. Tepper
Gibbon's Decline and Fall

Sheri S. Tepper
The Gate to Women's Country

Sheri S. Tepper
The True Game

Sheri S. Tepper
Dervish Daughter

Sheri S. Tepper
Jinian Star-eye

Sheri S. Tepper
The Margarets

Sheri S. Tepper
The Marianne Trilogy

Sheri S. Tepper
Shadow's End

Sheri S. Tepper
Beauty (Fantasy Masterworks)

Sheri S. Tepper

Beauty is the half mortal, half fairy daughter of a 14th century English duke. A fairy curse puts the entire household into an extended sleep, but Beauty escapes using a magic cloak. Outside the castle, she is captured by a film crew from the 21st century who have come to film the end of magic. Beauty lives for a while in the overpopulated, ugly 21st century where nature has been completely destroyed by humans and magic no longer works. She escapes, and her subsequent adventures take her to imaginary countries, the land of Faery, the late 20th century (where she is brutally raped), and to various times during her own century where her descendants become, in turn, Cinderella, Snow White and the Frog Prince.
Like much of Tepper's fiction, this book is driven by a controlled fury. She sees the destruction of beauty all around us by those who believe humanity has a right to use up the rest of nature, and this book is a stark warning that if we don't change our ways we will destroy the world. Her heroine is the guardian of all that is beautiful in the world, of all that is being devoured by human greed. An angry novel, it makes its point heavy-handedly in places, but with great poignancy overall. It's a powerful and thought-provoking read. Elizabeth Sourbut
The Enigma Score

Sheri S. Tepper
The Fresco

Sheri S. Tepper

The Fresco is a strong novel of alien first contact, driven by Tepper's trademark anger at the violence, oppression and stupidity she sees in our modern world. The Pistach are aliens belonging to a Confederation of intelligent peoples. They make first contact with an ordinary woman, Benita Alvarez, who becomes their intermediary with the US government. They explain that humanity must become neighbourly, otherwise we will be left to the mercy of predator species who like to hunt intelligent life for food. Some predators are already attempting to forge an alliance with military and political opposition leaders in the US. The Pistach believe it is their destiny to help other species achieve neighbourliness, as laid out in the sacred images of the revered Fresco on their homeworld, and so they begin to intervene in human affairs to reduce violence and misery. Tepper's imagination has run riot in finding interventionist ways to tackle drugs, violence, the oppression of women and religious intolerance. She has a robust and unfashionable take on the balance between personal freedom and social responsibility, and this is not a glib or easy read. The book is at times a little preachy, but the characters are strong, the Pistach are believable, and many of their interventions are very funny as well as appropriate. Nor are they as all-powerful as they seem at first. This is a thought-provoking, complex and satisfying read. --Elizabeth Sourbut
The Family Tree (Voyager)

Sheri S. Tepper

This technically polished novel ingeniously combines elements from traditional quests, fables, and novels. A seemingly rhetorical question is posed in chapter 1: Why did sociable, smart Dora Henry marry cold, controlling Jared Gerber? But that question is the key to the book and to the parallel stories told by Sheri Tepper. The sets of characters unravel their separate puzzles until all become different aspects of the same web of events, shaking the reader's, and Dora's, perceptions to the core. Tepper's linguistic sleight-of-hand with metaphor and image is breathtaking; her storytelling is deft and funny; her characters are memorable and sympathetic. Topical, mythical, archetypal, and provocative, this is a book no fantasy or science fiction reader should miss.
Gibbon's Decline and Fall

Sheri S. Tepper
Singer From The Sea

Sheri S. Tepper

In Singer From The Sea, Sheri S. Tepper returns to one of her most enduring themes: the destruction of the natural world by male aggression and greed. Humans have colonised many planets since the world-soul of Old Earth was driven out and the planet died. Many of those colonies are now struggling, their own world-souls threatened by the destructive activities of human colonists, but the ocean world of Haven appears to be thriving. Indeed, many of the rulers of this patriarchal aristocracy seem to be living for centuries. However, Genevieve, a young marchioness, is beginning to gather evidence that many of the noble women die young, under mysterious circumstances. When she and her father are summoned to court, she discovers that the Lord Paramount is ordering mountains of luxury goods from off-world, which are then left to rot, unused, in vast underground caverns, and she wonders what her low-tech society can offer in payment. When old Prince Delganor shows an interest in her, she quickly realises that more than her own safety is at stake, and is drawn into a struggle to save not only Haven, but the other colony worlds as well. In this compelling novel, Tepper has created a multi-layered society, filled with interesting and sometimes bizarre characters. The plot is driven forward by Genevieve's anger at the injustices she sees around her, and although the solution to the mystery is no great surprise, the denouement itself works well. --Elizabeth Sourbut