Fabulous Fiction Firsts #396 - The Revolutionaries

Wed, 04/24/2013 - 8:54pm by muffy

Amy Brill, a PBS and MTV writer/producer and a former fellow of the Edward F. Albee Foundation, and the Millay Colony, has just published her first novel.

The Movement of Stars * is a love story set in 1845 Nantucket, between a female astronomer and the unusual man who understands her dreams. This richly drawn portrait of desire and ambition in the face of adversity is inspired by the work of Maria Mitchell (1818-1889), the first professional female astronomer in America who discovered C/1847 T1.

24 year-old Hannah Gardner Price spends her days as a junior librarian in the Nantucket Atheneum, and mindful of the restraints and discipline of the Quaker community in which she is raised. But up on the rooftop each night, Hannah points a telescope at the heavens, hoping to spot a new comet to win the King of Denmark's prize, unheard of for a woman in mid-19th century.

And then she meets Isaac Martin, a young, dark-skinned whaler from the Azores who, like herself, has ambitions beyond his expected station in life. Drawn to his intellectual curiosity and honest manner, Hannah agrees to take Isaac on as a student. but when their shared interest in the stars develops into something deeper, Hannah's standing in the community begins to unravel especially amidst the widespread abolitionist sentiments, thus challenges her most fundamental beliefs about work and love, and ultimately changes the course of her life.

"In spare yet luminous prose, Brill shows Hannah achieving emotional and spiritual growth to match her intellectual gifts... Probing yet accessible, beautifully written and richly characterized: fine work from a writer to watch:".

Readers interested in exploring emotional and professional journey of strong women would enjoy Susan Vreeland's Clara and Mr. Tiffany (2011); Tracy Chevalier's Remarkable Creatures (2010); while romantic historical fiction fans would find much to like in Cathy Marie Buchanan's The Day the Falls Stood Still (2009).

* = starred review