The Stargazer's Sister

November 16, 2015
Caroline Herschel—William Herschel’s real-life sister and a housekeeper, research assistant, star pupil, and by her death in 1848 an accomplished astronomer in her own right—takes center stage for this historical novel featuring siblings who, between them, designed telescopes, identified double stars, and discovered the planet Uranus as well as several comets. Lina’s story begins with an unhappy childhood in Germany, where William and his brothers are trained as musicians while small, sickly Lina does household chores. Passionate about science, William introduces his younger sister to state-of-the-art scientific thinking and teaches her to read the night sky. Eventually he brings her to England to keep house, share his musical career, and assist in his amateur astronomical pursuits. Ingenious, visionary, resolute William designs a new kind of telescope; meticulous, hardworking Lina helps get it built. Together they move from Bath to a modest home in Slough that includes its own observatory, where they devote themselves full-time to astronomy. Then William marries and Lina makes some discoveries of her own. A fictional romance is added to this real-life story of an unusual woman, but it proves less compelling than the events documented by the Herschels themselves. By the end, it is the descriptions of constructing a 40-foot telescope and using it to sweep for undiscovered heavenly bodies that most vividly capture the Age of Wonder.

November 1, 2015
Brown (The Last First Day, 2013) fictionalizes the lives of highly respected astronomer-siblings William and Caroline "Lina" Herschel with an emphasis on Lina's growth from dependence on her brother to success in her own right. The novel's first section, devoted to Lina as a child in Germany from 1755 until her move to England in 1772 at age 22, is the most involving. She grows up in Hanover, in a large impoverished family headed by a musician father and a bitter, continually pregnant mother. Lina, small and sickly, adores William, a gifted scholar and musician 12 years her senior, who shares with her his love of astronomy and learning in general. William leaves permanently for England to avoid military conscription while Lina is still a child. Under her mother's harsh control and with little hope of marriage, especially after a fever stunts her growth and leaves her pockmarked, Lina's future looks bleak. But when she's 22, William answers her written plea--"Save me"--by moving her to Bath, where his work as a musician pays for his explorations in astronomy and his eventually successful ambition to build a large reflective telescope. William gives her intellectual instruction, and she assists his astronomy, runs the household and finances, and contributes income with her singing. Lina's adoration of William comes across as a bit creepy--the way she notes his handsome looks and feeds him by hand when he's occupied on his telescope, "intimacy" she herself notes is odd--but Brown never delves beyond polite boundaries. While jealous of Lina's only suitor--a fictional creation--William marries a pretty, wealthy widow at age 50. Peremptorily moved from William's house, Lina finally comes into her own as an astronomer. The historical details may be of interest to astronomy buffs, but neither they nor the Herschels come into involving focus in this plodding version of their lives.

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August 1, 2015

Plucked from sheer misery in Germany and brought to England by her brother, the real-life luminous astronomer and composer William Herschel, Caroline tends to his household devotedly--and is utterly upended by his decision to marry. Brown has claimed the Barnes and Noble Discover Award and the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, among other honors.

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