September 04 2026, 15:04

In Ascension

Author: Martin MacInnes

First published: 2023

Dr Leigh Hasenboch is a marine biologist with a PhD specialising in the possible industrial uses of algae. On the Endeavour, a research ship exploring unexplained readings in an anomalous area of the Atlantic Ocean, she is exposed to something in the water, and this leads to her being involved in a backup team for a secret trip into space. Her knowledge of biology is key to developing a spacecraft, designed with alien knowledge, that would allow humans to survive the distances and long stretches of time. Her crew of three unexpectedly become the main team and Leigh sets out to find an alien spacecraft trying to communicate with Earth.

Leigh’s family is central to the structure of the story. At the beginning, Leigh tells us about her childhood in Rotterdam, her abusive father Geert, enigmatic mother Fenna, and sister Hannah. Geert’s temper is fierce and unpredictable, but he only hits Leigh when Fenna is not around, and he doesn’t hit Hannah at all. Leigh has a moment of clarity while swimming in a canal to escape her miserable situation with her father. She realises that everything around her is alive. This sets her on the path of marine biology and escape from Rotterdam. When Geert dies, Leigh’s relationships with mother and sister stay awkward and distant, and when Fenna begins to develop dementia, Leigh chooses her scientific work over caring for her mother, forcing Hannah to manage Fenna’s care alone.

Towards the end, we get Hannah’s version of their childhood, which is different to Leigh’s, and the change in perspective is a clever way to close the loop of Leigh’s story. Leigh doesn’t come back from her journey to the Oort Cloud, and Hannah is living with the unresolved anguish and grief of having lost someone but them not being legally declared dead, and then fighting a corporate behemoth to get answers that are deemed top secret.

As wondrous and knowledgable as the details about space flight and humans surviving in space are, it’s the relationships that I was most interested in. I found the long sections describing the science and realities of scientific work interesting to begin with, but then increasingly dull, and that was my main issue with the book. Leigh is a memorable character though, and the ending was worth the wait.

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