The Sparrow

The Jesuit scientists went to learn, not to proselytize. They went so that they might come to know and love God’s other children. They went for the reason Jesuits have always gone to the farthest frontiers of human exploration. They went ad majorem Dei gloriam: for the greater glory of God. They meant no harm.

- The Sparrow, Prologue

The Sparrow (1996) is the first novel by author Mary Doria Russell. It won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, James Tiptree Jr. Award, Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis and the British Science Fiction Association Award. It was followed by a sequel, Children of God, in 1998.

Synopsis

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Plot

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Conception

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Publication

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Reception

Awards and Nominations

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Adaptations

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Trivia

The Latin quote under the novel’s dedication to Maura E. Kirby and Mary L. Dewing reads, “quarum sine auspicio hic liber in lucem non esset editas”, which translates to “Without whose auspices this book would not have been published”.

Editions

The first edition of The Sparrow has the first issue points: “karstic” instead of “karst,” page 16, line 12; “thirty two feet per second” instead of “thirty two feet per second per second,” page 95, lines 9-10. The first issue dust jacket with the photograph is credited to “Dina Ross” instead of “Dina Rossi”. ^[1]