Name that book!

March 27, 2009 4:53 AM

Name That Book Filter! Tracking down the name of a book read in childhood.

This is for a friend of mine, who says: "I once read a book, who's title and author I've forgotten, but would dearly love to re-discover. This was along time ago, so the details are fuzzy and may be inaccurate. It was a science fiction novel about intelligent, alien, micro-organisms; they reproduced by budding, or dividing and so I think were all female. They loved prime numbers, and were all 'named' with prime numbers. The main (human) character was a girl who also loved prime numbers . I suspect the author is a woman."

Any thoughts?

posted by schwap23 to sports, hobbies, & recreation (4 comments total)

Something by Madeline L'Engle, perhaps?
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 6:23 AM on March 27

Specifically, L'Engle's A Wind in the Door, the second in her Time Quartet series (starting with the famous A Wrinkle in Time) features fictional microorganisms called "Farandolae" that live within mitochondria, and Meg Murray is one of the human protagonists, the daughter of scientists. It's the first thing I thought of as well, though it's been a good fifteen years since I read the book.

I don't remember (and googling doesn't help me find evidence of) primes figuring in the story, the Farandolae being female, or details about their reproduction, so it's not feeling like a strong fit for your description, but depending on how hazy your friend's memory is it might be worth checking out.
posted by cortex at 6:45 AM on March 27

This doesn't fit the description exactly, but might it be Anna to the Inifinite Power?
posted by orange swan at 8:01 AM on March 27

Anna to the Inifinite Power was made into a movie in 1983. You can read a synopsis of the movie (which of course is similar to that of the book) on the Wikipedia page for the movie.
posted by orange swan at 8:03 AM on March 27