Ethan of Athos

Ethan of Athos (1986) is a novel by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Summary

Dr. Ethan Urquhart, obstetrician on Athos, a men-only world, must leave his planet to find new ovarian cultures to ensure his people's survival.

During his stay at a nearby space station, he encounters Elli Quinn, a mercenary on a secret mission, and both of them become embroiled in dangerous matters of espionage and bioengineering.

Notes

The name "Athos" is probably derived from Mount Athos, in Northern Greece, which is home to a self-governed, male-separatist monastic state that denies entry to women and even to female domestic animals! (Except for cats.)

Mount Athos made the news in the spring of 2008 when:

Four Moldovan women accidentally violated a 1,000-year-old ban on females entering the all male monastic community of Mount Athos, when they were left on Greek shores by human traffickers.

Further reading

• FeministSF Book Discussion Group (April 2005)

References

• Wikipedia entry for Ethan of Athos