Mother of Eden

By: Chris Beckett

Narrated by: Jessica Martin, Oliver J. Hembrough

We speak of a mother's love, but we forget her power. Power over life. Power to give and to withhold.

Generations after the breakup of the human family of Eden, the Johnfolk emphasise knowledge and innovation, the Davidfolk tradition and cohesion.

But both have built hierarchical societies sustained by violence and dominated by men - and both claim to be the favoured children of a long-dead woman from Earth that all Eden knows as Gela, the mother of them all.

When Starlight Brooking meets a handsome and powerful man from across Worldpool, she believes he will offer an outlet for her ambition and energy. But she has no idea that she will be a stand-in for Gela herself and wear Gela's ring on her own finger. And she has no idea of the enemies she will make, no inkling that a time will come when she, like John Redlantern, will choose to kill....

Chris Beckett is a university lecturer living in Cambridge. He has written over 20 short stories, many of them originally published in Interzone and Asimov's. He is the winner of the Edge Hill Short Story competition, 2009, for "The Turing Test", as well as the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award, 2013, for Dark Eden.

©2015 Chris Beckett (P)2015 Audible, Ltd

Critic reviews

"A classic theme, beautifully told." (Sunday Telegraph on Dark Eden)
"This is a world I'm desperate to return to." (Guardian on Dark Eden)
"There's no justice if Dark Eden, with its beautiful, terrifying planet, slowly revealed, fails to bring Beckett awards." (The Sunday Times on Dark Eden)