The Memory of Earth
First book of the Homecoming Saga, inspired by the Book of Mormon.
Orson Scott Card, an American author, published the science fiction novel The Memory of Earth in 1992. It opens the Homecoming Saga, which loosely adapts the first half of the Book of Mormon's opening book, 1 Nephi.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Orson Scott Card
- Cover artist
- Keith Parkinson
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Series
- Homecoming Saga
- Genre
- Science fiction
- Publisher
- Tor Books
- Format
- Print (Hardcover & Paperback) Audiobook
Facts from the source article.
Plot summary
Humanity has lived for 40 million years on the planet Harmony after Earth was destroyed by conflict. A computer called the Oversoul was left as guardian to prevent humans from developing technologies that could cause global war. Humans were genetically modified to communicate with the Oversoul, which distracts them from forbidden thoughts. The Oversoul begins to fail and chooses a group to return to Earth to find the Keeper of Earth.
It recruits Volemak, father of protagonist Nafai. Nafai and his brother Issib learn to defy the Oversoul's thought override and discover its danger. Nafai hears the Oversoul's voice. The first book follows the family's betrayal, the taking of the Index, and the downfall of Gaballufix, who planned to ally the city of Basilica with a malignant nation.
Nafai, his half brothers Elemak and Mebbekew, Issib, and Volemak are forced to leave the city. They retrieve the Index, which allows direct communication with the Oversoul. Nafai's careless blunders and successes cause Elemak to hate him, a theme continuing through the saga.
Characters
Nafai is the youngest son of Wetchik Volemak and Rasa by second contract, brother to Elemak, Mebbekew, and Issib. He is an 18-year-old boy (14 in temple years) who clearly hears the Oversoul's voice. After he and his brothers and father are banished from Basilica into the desert due to a plot by Gaballufix, Volemak urges them to retrieve the Index. Nafai later confronts Gaballufix and cuts off his head under the Oversoul's bidding.
Wetchik (Volemak) is the father of Nafai, Elemak, Issib, and Mebbekew, a seller of exotic plants. He receives a vision from the Oversoul and leads his family out of Basilica. Gaballufix is Elemak's oldest half brother, son of Hosni by Zdedhnoi, and father of Sevet and Kokor by Rasa. He attempts to ally Basilica with Potokgavan against the Gorayni (Wetheads), drawing the city into war beyond the Oversoul's mental blocks and destroying its female-dominated structure with holographically-disguised soldiers.
He plots to kill Volemak; after Volemak and his sons retreat to the desert, they need the Index, which Gaballufix holds. Nafai kills him, and Nafai never fully forgives himself. Rasa, Nafai and Issib's mother, is a respected woman in Basilica who runs a school from her house. Formerly married to Gaballufix, she is now exclusively married to Wetchik and defends her children and students.
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