The Silent Stars Go By

James White's own favourite James White novel. He got the catchy title from listening to 'O, Little Town of Bethlehem' at a carol concert* The parallel-universe Hibernian Empire has risen to supreme power, with the help of applied Old World technology (Hero's steam engine, etc.) and new World natural resources (Brendan the navigator pre-empted Columbus by some five hundred years). Now the starship Aisling Gheal and its crew extend Oirish manifest destiny to outer space. Healer Nolan, an unbeliever in the priest-kings of Gor - sorry, Hibernia - finds himself pitted against the ultra-conservative Monsignor O'Riordan. I lapped it up. Mind you, I also think that Darby O'Gill and the Little People is a piece of grim documentary realism.