This is Dorsey’s second book that I have read. I enjoyed Black Wine, which focused on feminist themes as it follows three women through their lives in a fantasy-inspired milieu. Dorsey’s writing is tight and lyrical, and her characters tend to inhabit the knife’s edge between grief and joy. Although well-known in Canada, she is relatively unknown in the US.

Her second book, A Paradigm of Earth, I think is even more successful. The novel follows Morgan Shelby, a woman struggling with profound grief after the sudden loss of both of her parents. Set in a dystopic Canadian future, Morgan is an outcast in every sense of the word: relationally, sexually, spiritually. Into her life comes “Blue”, an alien sent to earth to learn about human culture. Blue was sent “emptied”, and Shelby, who had spent her career working with severely disabled children, is tapped by the government to teach the alien, who possesses no language or other skills. Blue develops quickly, escapes his government facility, lands on Morgan’s doorstep, and they soon develop a deep relationship. In the midst of this occur several unexplained deaths and murders, and the iminent departure of Blue back to those who sent him.

This novel primarily moves around Morgan’s inner life, and her transformation from someone who is unable to love or care for herself or other people to someone who is intimately engaged in the world around her. I had a difficult time with Dorsey’s attempt to establish Morgan’s initial condition (I kept asking myself “Why the hell is this woman so sad?”), but the last two-thirds of the novel are quite compelling and moving. The novel dwells on themes and has a tone that will be familiar to readers of LeGuin and L’Engle (and Dorsey acknowledges LeGuin as an inspiration, and she founded Tesseract Press (now part of Edge Publishing). If you enjoy well-written, feminist science fiction this is a good read.