Archangel

Barrett, whose novel Ship Fever won the 1996 National Book Award, dwells on the intersections between science (her interests include genetics, astronomy, and zoology) and ethics (love, purpose, solace). Her training in biology and her meticulous research allow Barrett to speak of facts with authority, but in this powerful collection of five long stories, the facts come through the eyes of lost, lonely, elusive “investigators.” In “The Ether of Space,” set in 1920, astronomer Phoebe Wells struggles with the implications of Einstein’s theories; in “The Island,” set in 1873, young biologist Henrietta Atkins, initially worshipful of a creationist professor, succumbs to Darwinism. As is typical of Barrett’s work, characters overlap. A 12-year-old boy catching his first sight of “aeroplanes” in “The Investigators,” set in 1908, is encountered again as a WWI soldier in the excellent title story, where he sees planes bombing his camp. At times, Barrett’s exercises in defamiliarization falter, leaving us with a barrage of historic-scientific details; at others, her ruminative observers remain too elusive to be believed, with “loneliness” and “enigma” crossing into tropes. But these few missteps don’t counter the overall power of the book; there is indeed a sense of expansion as one travels onward in Barrett’s world, and pleasure in watching it fill out. Agent: Emily Forland, Brandt & Hochman. (Aug.)