The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics - Olivia Waite

[el_staplador]

Well, having been put off this one by the rather arch title, and attracted to it by positive reviews from various places, I eventually picked it up when I visited Gay's The Word in August.

This is a romance between a young astronomer and a countess ten years her senior. Lucy Muchelney has been trained by her father, who at the opening of the book is recently deceased. Catherine St. Day is widowed, a patron of science both depended upon and condescended to by the scientific society to which her husband belonged. Lucy presents herself as a candidate to translate an influential work by a French astronomer, and matters go on from there.

The romance is gentle and tender. Both partners have been hurt before but both are prepared to move past that. There's room for assumptions and misunderstandings, and room to correct them. The sex is frank, uncomplicated, and enjoyed (no mention of 'sin' or 'sinful', a particular pet peeve of mine when it comes to romance).

There is, as might be expected, a very strong feminist message, which worked by positioning Lucy as one of many women scientists facing systemic prejudice and exclusion, not 'the first one ever'. I assume that all the names mentioned were fictional; I did enjoy a shout-out to 'a young woman down the coast' who found a 'lizard skeleton'.

If I'm being picky, there were a few places where the period detail was off (for example, the scene where Lucy visits one of the gentlemen of the Society unchaperoned), and rather too much use of 'the countess', 'the astronomer', 'the younger woman', etc - but overall this is an enjoyable, readable romance.

Comments

[muccamukk]

Thanks for the review! I have this, but haven't gotten to it because it's one of those ones that had great potential to be dreadful.

[el_staplador]

I know what you mean! But it's fine. Maybe a bit heavy-handed when it comes to the moral, and possibly been a bit more hyped than is good for it, but certainly not dreadful.

[silverr]

My library's got this (and the Waspish Widows one), and your review got me interested.

(Also, I listened to the first few minutes of the audiobook, and enjoyed the reader, so I might borrow that version instead.)

[el_staplador]

The waspish widows also sound fun.

I haven't got myself sorted out with the library yet. We moved just as lockdown came in and I have yet to get round to it.

[cyphomandra]

I’m looking forward to waspish widows! I did enjoy this but would have liked more astronomy (surely they could have been having midnight telescope assignations much earlier in the text :D )

[blueshiftofdeath]

I just finished this recently and loved it! I thought it was unique for how heavily it leaned into the history of science aesthetic, which combined with the wlw romance I really enjoyed. I also liked the "we have always been here" bent of the expected feminist message; it has a positive/affirming feeling despite the surrounding sexism, which I appreciate in a light read like this.

My only real complaint would be that I found the big conflict between the two leads a little forced/frustrating, but I liked the resolution enough that I'll give it a pass. :-)

My library also has Waspish Widows, so I plan on reading that soon!