«The Garden of Rama» by Arthur Clarke

The third novel in the Rama series from the legendary “colossus of science fiction” and creator of 2001: A Space Odyssey (The New Yorker).   Continuing from the end of Rama II, three astronauts—Nicole, Richard, and Michael—remain trapped in a labyrinthine alien spaceship bound for deep space. Creating the best semblance of a life they can, Nicole bears five children and they spend the next twelve years raising them aboard the ship. Eventually, they arrive at the Node, a Raman facility orbiting Sirius whose purpose is to study representatives from all of the galaxy’s species.   Told that they must re-establish contact with Earth and arrange for two thousand more humans to return with them in another voyage, the astronauts worry what trouble they might be entering into. After all, their children have never known other people. Their fears are realized when they learn part of their new crew from Earth includes a group of violent convicts.   As the spacecraft hurtles toward a rendezvous with a Raman base, the astronauts brace themselves to finally meet their enigmatic captors face to face—and hope to learn the true purpose behind the mysterious craft.   “When this book is good, it is really good.” —SFreviews.net