#31: Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather

An eclectic group of nuns--on a deep space assignment in a large living spaceship--reluctantly come into conflict with an increasingly restrictive central government on far-away Earth in Lina Rather's highly imaginative science fiction outing Sisters of the Vast Black.

Rather's storytelling has enough neat world-building ideas for a half-dozen novels, from the organic ships grown from more or less tadpoles to the repressive Earth government risen from radioactive ashes to the tenets of a future Catholic church.

Best of which are the characters, from the ship--trying to veer off course and mate with another ship she saw in passing--to the Mother Superior with a government-toppling past to the nun who has a secret romance correspondence with a woman she met at a space station.

Entirely satisfying sci-fi I read quickly on my beloved Kindle.  I hope this one becomes a series.