The stargazer's sister

Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

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. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by Library Journal Review

This latest novel from Brown (The Last First Day) focuses on Caroline (Lina) Herschel, a remarkable woman but just what the title says she is-someone's sister. Caroline's brother, William, an astronomer and a genius, rescues her from a terrible home life and servitude to their difficult mother. In exchange, Lina serves William. Certainly, she is more than just a housekeeper-she's a research assistant, companion, and confidante-but he is so driven in his astronomical pursuits that it's a wonder she survives. She loves him fiercely, believing that he is one of the greatest minds of their time, but does that mean she should live a life of total self-sacrifice and duty? Is William unrelentingly selfish, thinking only of his needs, or does his intellect and achievements excuse him? William opens up a world of wonder to Lina, bringing awe into her life, and she becomes an accomplished astronomer of her own. But readers must decide for themselves whether she has her own life or is ultimately just "the stargazer's sister." Verdict This beautiful and unusual book about familial love, duty, and sacrifice is based on real-life individuals, and though the story of the Herschel siblings might not be well known, it's one worth discovering. [See Prepub Alert, 7/13/15.]-Shaunna E. Hunter, Hampden-Sydney Coll. Lib., VA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

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 creepythe way she notes his handsome looks and feeds him by hand when he's occupied on his telescope, "intimacy" she herself notes is oddbut Brown never delves beyond polite boundaries. While jealous of Lina's only suitora fictional creationWilliam 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. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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The wind is with them, and she watches from the ship's rail as the hard places disappear, fortress and stony beach and the long humped quay at Hellevoetsluis, the church and bell tower reduced in minutes to dark notches on the horizon. It is Saturday, and the church bells were ringing as they came aboard--not the hour, thus either a wedding or a funeral, she thought--but she cannot hear them anymore. It happened quickly, William taking her hand and helping her into the little vessel which took them out to the packet boat some distance away at anchor. She looks back from the ship's deck now and realizes that for the first time in her life she is not standing on solid ground.   The afternoon is cool for August, shadows of clouds drifting over the land behind them, but as the ship moves farther from shore, a slant of sunlight falls from sky to ground, illuminating the row of painted houses facing the water. Glass in the windows flashes, pricks of light glinting along the vanishing quay in the dark afternoon.   She holds tight to the rail. She has dreamed about this departure, longed for it. Now she cannot look away from the glowing scene shrinking on the horizon, retreating from sight as if being tugged backward toward a void.   At last all definition is lost, beach and quay and houses and church and bell tower gone entirely. She no longer can make out the inlets leading into the marshes or the mouth of the river. An egret lifts from somewhere and can be seen for a moment, bright scrap against the tumult of dark clouds. She tries to keep the bird in sight, but finally it, too, disappears. Then there is only a thin black line on the horizon, barely visible, to suggest what they have left behind. When the line vanishes completely, she feels her stomach constrict. She has to remind herself: it is not that the land has slipped off the edge of the planet and into the void, though that is definitely the impression. Her mind knows the land is still there, but what she feels is its absence.   Bright shifting patterns wrinkle the sea's surface. Far out, floating patches of darkness, giant cloud shadows, roam over the water.   She turns to find her brother, but William has been absorbed among the passengers gathered at the rail.   Spray from a wave lands on her face and hands, startling with its cold, and Lina laughs even as she wipes her eyes. A woman beside her turns and gives her a questioning look.   *** On the post wagon yesterday, the final day of their voyage toward the coast of Holland from the forested slopes surrounding Hanover, her black hat had blown off. The land had been flat and flooded in places with shallow water that reflected the sky, and she'd looked back to see her useless hat floating on a mirrored patch of cloud-strewn blue. A further weight had seemed to leave her.   William had closed his book and glanced behind them at the shimmering field. "Your hat," he'd said. "Shall I ask them to stop?"   "Oh! No," she'd said, trying not to smile. With every kilometer between herself and the home she had left behind, she'd felt lighter, as if soon she would float up off her seat.   William had shaken his head, puzzled, a brother amused by his sister's inexplicable amusement.   She had not told him this: sometimes during the years he had been away from home, she'd walked down to the river at the bot­tom of the orchard. She'd known that if she waded in, perhaps even only as far as her knees, her dress would have become too heavy for her to struggle back up the bank to safety. The current could be powerful, especially with snowmelt in early spring. Ill­ness had weakened her, and she was not strong. She had never learned to swim, as her brothers had. A girl was not taught any­thing she could use to save herself in the larger world. She had frightened herself, staring at that river.   Finally she'd written to William in England. Two words: Save me.   In a postscript, to maintain her dignity, she'd added: There is no one here with whom to converse anymore except the horse, and he has few opinions and a poor vocabulary with which to express them.   It had been necessary to make it possible for William to understand her plea as lighthearted. She could not have borne it if he had refused a request made in earnest. Yet he had known. He had understood her. He would not disappoint her. He was sorry it had taken so long, he wrote by reply. He had been making plans. He had not forgotten her.   *** Now, less than a year later, here they are, six days away from Hanover, six days away from her abandoned life. England's invisible shore beckons.   She will never return, she thinks. Nothing could ever make her return.   Waves close over the overlapping road of their wake.   William appears beside her, touches her shoulder. She turns.   They are sailing out from beneath the clouds, and the packet moves as if passing into another realm out of the shadows and into bright sunlight. She can actually watch the sharp edge of the clouds' darkness sliding along the deck from bow to stern, until at last they are free of it entirely.   The heat of the sun falls against her skin.   Again she has to wipe her cheeks. Well, these are tears, after all, and just as salty as the ocean. She knew they were there behind the laughter, tears for how awful it has been, all these years.   Her old life--and the life she always imagined would lie before her--is gone.   She turns away from what they have left behind.   She is twenty-two years old. Her brother William has set her free. Excerpted from The Stargazer's Sister: A Novel by Carrie Brown All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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