Iris "Sully" Sullivan

Sully is an astronaut, the communications specialist aboard a ship called Aether that is returning to Earth after a mission to Jupiter. The novel is an exploration of Sully's intense loneliness and inability to make lasting connections with people due to issues she faced in her past. Sully grew up without a father, and her mother, Jean, was a scientist who worked long hours. As a girl, Sully was fascinated by her mother's work, and this drove her to become a scientist herself. When Sully was ten, Jean got married, and a year later gave birth to twins. Once the twins were born, Sully felt replaced and unwanted by her mother. She went away to boarding school and then to college, and Jean died before Sully graduated. They were essentially estranged at this time. Sully never knew her father, who turns out to be Augustine. This...