Page last updated: November 23, 2018
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ADOPTION
by Victoria I. Sullivan
When six-year-old Mary's mother dies unexpectedly, she is "adopted" by her neighbors, Val and David. But nothing about Mary or her adoption is normal. She's a giant—nearly seven feet tall, brilliant and beautiful, the result of her mother's in vitro fertilization at a clinic in Vermilion, Louisiana.
What happened? Did something go wrong? Or was it planned by doctors experimenting on humans? And if so, is it still happening in other fertility clinics in the United States, Russia, and North Korea?
Val, a reluctant mother and professor of biology, becomes detective and protector. Her own research on the genetics of polyploid plants that have multiple sets of chromosomes give her insights and sympathy for this super, but outnumbered, new race of humans. A new race that is threatened by a fearful government and public, who want to eliminate them (and their differences) at any cost.
Murder, mystery, speculative science, and a mother's love blend in a novel that asks us to consider what would happen if life were just a little bit different.
VICTORIA I. SULLIVAN is a writer and botanist. She studied biology at the University of Miami and has a Ph.D. in biology from Florida State University. She has published poetry, flash fiction, numerous botanical papers, and nonfiction articles. She held a faculty position in the Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette for 20 years. Sullivan is a resident of Sewanee, Tennessee. She winters in New Iberia, Louisiana.
Visit The Polyploids by Victoria I. Sullivan
Why Water Plants Don’t Drown, by Victoria I. Sullivan (2012): Survival Strategies
of Aquatic and Wetland Plants (7"x10" paperback, full color, 102 pages, $25.00).