The Child Garden (1989)

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Winner of the John W. Campbell and Arthur C. Clarke Awards. Are you ready for polar bear families in London—who have their own black sheep: after all, what can a polar bear mining family do with a daughter who wants to write operas? And what is London to do with a unique woman who, resistant to the viruses, might be able to provided the cure for the cure for cancer? In a future, tropical London, humans photosynthesize, organics have replaced electronics, viruses educate people, and very few live past forty. Milena is resistant to the viruses and unable to be Read. She has Bad Grammar. She’s alone until she meets Rolfa, a huge, hirsute Genetically Engineered Polar Woman, and Milena realizes she might, just might, be able to find a place for herself after all. If you’ve been missing reading about polar bears since finishing Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books, this is the novel for you. The Child Garden is one of the original biopunk novels: it’s over the top baroque . . . it’s a masterpiece. ** From Publishers Weekly A future city afflicted with a viral epidemic is the setting of Ryman's acclaimed novel; winner of the John W. Cambell and Arthur C. Clarke Awards. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review "Excellent...Dark and witty and full of love, closely observed, and sprinkled with astonishing ideas. Science fiction of a very high order."--Greg Bear "A richly absorbing tale--with a marvelous premise expertly carried out."-- Kirkus Reviews "One of the most imaginative accounts of futuristic bioengineering since Geg Bear's Blood Music ."--Locus "A heady novel bursting with speculation."-- Library Journa l "An exuberant celebration of excess set in a resource-poor but defiantly eneregtic 21st century...you will not be bored."-- The New York Times