Angol
This novel explores, through Professor Rachel Buddywell's life story, the current paradigm shift of science encapturing the traditional provinces of theology and philosophy. The novel traverses how the world simultaneously embraces and rejects this modern approach, an approach that unfolds 'what is', and how, in many ways, that 'what is' has always been 'what is'. Rachel is appointed to chair the Commission's report into cloning of humans, so she must navigate the unknown waters of the Assembly, and her fellow commissioners, to chart a new route for the modern world, beyond. As a cognitive scientist, aided by presenters in evolutionary biology, neuroscience, zoology, and psychotherapy, she weaves the disparate scientific disciplines into a finished tapestry, amidst the conflicting influences and objectives of her fellow commissioners. The delegates to the Assembly and the commissioners find the implications of today's science simultaneously thrilling and horrifying - but they exist, so the genie is out of the bottle. And will not go back in. Living back, as well as in the present, her whole life has fashioned her for this task. The influences that made her may be commonplace, but nonetheless have produced a person who is not. Her unconventional but defining passion of the heart unbolts her life's lynchpins to mock the thrust of her endeavours. This presents unwelcome challenges for her work, and her life. The novel shares Rachel's life and innermost reveries as she grapples with the emotions accompanying her on this momentous and tumultuous journey from her background, her life before she was appointed to the Commission, her thunderstruck love, chairing two sessions of the Assembly and one meeting of the Commission. Their aftermath entwines into her personal life with her lover and the death of her father and absorption of views from those who so influence her.
