Sunburst

First published in 1964, Sunburst, Canadian writer Phyllis Gotlieb's first science fiction novel, is now considered a classic of speculative fiction. A radioactive accident at a nuclear power plant causes Sorrel Park, a small town near Chicago, to be quarantined from the outside world. Children born in the years following the accident develop incredible psychic powers but also begin to exhibit deeply disturbing psychotic behaviour, and as a result they are confined to a compound called "the dump." As Sunburst begins, the children, better known as "dumplings," find a way to escape. We witness these events through the eyes of 12-year-old Shandy Johnson and her friend Jason Hemmer, a dumpling allowed the freedom of Sorrel Park because he's able to evaluate for the authorities the psychic powers of children as they are born. Readers of Gotlieb's later fiction will find Sunburst fascinating, as she begins to explore themes she returns to in such classic novels as A Judgment of Dragons and O Master Caliban!, as well as more recent offerings like Flesh and Gold and Violent Stars. Sunburst is speculative fiction at its most intriguing and provocative, as relevant today as it was when it was first published.