The Lost Star by Helen Mary Hoover

Raised by emotionally distant astronomer parents at an observatory on an alien planet, fifteen-year-old earth-born Lian crashes her shuttle a thousand miles away during a routine supply run. She is found by an archaeologist from Earth who is there overseeing the excavation of a particularly mysterious site.

Among the seemingly native species, Lian discovers an immediate connection with a group of amiable hexapods whom the archeological team treat as harmless and rather stupid animals, even giving them the name "Lumpies".

Lian's empathetic bond with the Lumpies emboldens them to reveal to her a secret that they have been hiding for generations; a secret that will bring out the best and worst qualities of those in the archeological team when they are told about it.

When her mother finally finds the time to make the trip out to collect her, Lian for the first time finds the courage to defy the wishes of her parents and decides to stay on at the dig.

The author sets up a parallel between Lian's situation at the observatory (where she is not understood and given only the option of making astrophysics her future career) and the Lumpies predicament which necessitates concealing their intelligence in order to protect themselves and what belongs to them.

This time away from the observatory affords Lian opportunity to reconsider her priorities and plans for the future, which have hitherto been decided for her by others. In this way, Lian's experience has the essence of a coming-of-age story and a journey of self-discovery.

This is the second of Hoover's books I have read, and I found it very imaginative and absorbing. Having said that, I think that I enjoyed This Time of Darkness more, probably because it dealt with more adult themes and was more closely plotted. But I would certainly recommend The Lost Star for middle-grade readers and those who have an interest in science fiction literature aimed at children and young adults.

Here are some quotes from the book:

...the supernova, the fiery death of a distant sun. She was going to tell them that, then decided not to. People did not always appreciate raw facts—especially when they were engaged in making wishes.

She wondered if that was the source of most social noise—the need to avoid thinking about what really mattered.

"They'll overlook my secretiveness. But yours would be seen as an attempt to gain personal glory." "I see you are familiar with research personalities," Dr. Farr said. "Behind each dispassionate scientific mask lurks an egomaniac."

Was it because they suggested a human, with their big sad eyes, clown smile, and dumpy figure, that humans laughed at them? And if the humans laughed, then did that give other sentient species the freedom to express chauvinistic disdain for lumpies similar to the contempt they felt for humans but dared not express?

There was a definite comfort in the purity of astrophysics, she thought. There were no emotional elements. She suddenly understood more her parents' passion for their work. It shut out things like this ... it shut out the problems of normal life. And some of the joy.

Did you ever quit saying, 'Let's go home now'? Or did you just whisper it inside yourself, too, when you finally figured out the truth and knew there was no hope?

Afterward, when she could think again about that morning, about that child's room, she knew it had all in some way shifted time for her and ended her own childhood.

By the time she could return to Earth a generation of Earth time would have passed. What she longed for would be gone. Things might remain, a house and garden, artifacts, but all who lived within that human past lived now only in her mind.
Like the lumpies, she had to start from now, to keep and to use what was good from the past, and forget about the rest.

"I remember once my mother was holding my hand before I went back to sleep after a bad dream, and to comfort me she said. There in your small finger is an iron atom born in the death of a star. It passed through the gaseous clouds of space, whirled into and out of Earth's sun to Earth, passed through mountains and prehistoric seas, dinosaurs, a fish and a fisherman, the north wind, a rabbit, a river and steel and rust. It is immortal. We are all immortal atoms.'"


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