Nantucket Woman becomes First Woman to Discover Comet on this Day #HistoricalFiction

Maria Mitchell’s feat in 1865 transfixed the nation.  If you would like to read about the real Maria, click here. If you would like some great historical fiction about such a women consider “The Movement of Stars” by Amy Brill.

In this novel, “amatuer astronomer Hannah Gardner Price has lived all twenty-four years of her life according to the principles of the Nantucket Quaker community in which she was raised. 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 “Probing yet accessible, beautifully written and richly characterized: fine work from a writer to watch.”

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