The Stargazer's Sister

by Carrie Brown

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  THOSE WHO WISH TO READ about the Herschels will find ample material, and I am much indebted to the following works for the light they helped shed on the significance of William’s and Caroline’s contributions to astronomy and overall to the world in which they lived and worked.

  Two volumes in particular provided helpful and substantive records of the Herschels’ lives.

  The Herschel Chronicle: The Life-Story of William Herschel and His Sister Caroline Herschel, edited by William’s granddaughter Constance A. Lubbock (Cambridge University Press, 1933), uses letters, Caroline’s journals, and various selections from among William’s writings, including his scientific papers “On the Construction of the Heavens” and “On Nebulous Stars.”

  Caroline’s papers are contained under the title Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel, compiled by Mary Cornwallis, the wife of John Herschel, William’s only son. As she writes in her introduction to the volume, “Great men and great causes have always some helper of whom the outside world knows but little. There always is, and always has been, some human being in whose life their roots have been nourished. Sometimes these helpers have been men, sometimes they have been women, who have given themselves to help and to strengthen those called upon to be leaders and workers, inspiring them with courage, keeping faith in their own idea alive, in days of darkness…These helpers and sustainers, men or women, have all the same quality in common—absolute devotion and unwavering faith in the individual or in the cause. Seeking nothing for themselves, thinking nothing of themselves, they have all an intense power of sympathy, a noble love of giving themselves for the service of others, which enables them to transfuse the force of their own personality into the object to which they dedicate their powers.

  “Of this noble company of unknown helpers Caroline Herschel was one.”

  Mary Cornwallis’s sensitive and perceptive reading of Caroline’s writing and correspondence creates a nuanced portrait of Caroline that was immensely helpful to me.

  I am indebted as well to the work of many others who have written about the Herschels, chiefly Michael Hoskin, perhaps the foremost scholar of the Herschels’ lives, who has written voluminously about both William and Caroline. I relied heavily on his work Discoverers of the Universe: William and Caroline Herschel, published in 2011 by Princeton University Press. It is my hope that should he ever read this novel, he would appreciate the story’s deviations from the historical record and see in my changes to that record an altered but not unrecognizable truth.

  Also invaluable to me were The Georgian Star: How William and Caroline Herschel Revolutionized Our Understanding of the Cosmos by Michael D. Lemonick. This book, released in 2004, is among the titles in the Great Discoveries series published by W. W. Norton & Company. In addition, The Comet Sweeper: Caroline Herschel’s Astronomical Ambition by Claire Brock, published by Icon Books in 2007, offered further insights into Caroline’s life. Richard Holmes’s marvelous The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science was hugely helpful in its portraits of several figures from the scientific revolution of the later part of the eighteenth century. There are likely few better sources than Holmes’s brilliant book for capturing the excitement of that period, and the figures of genius, wit, and bravery who characterized that era.

  Another volume vastly useful to me, especially for an understanding of Caroline’s early years, was Flesh and Spirit: Private Life in Early Modern Germany by Steven Ozment.

  Of additional assistance were several small books—by Patrick Moore, Frank Brown, Michael Hoskin, and Brian Warner—prepared for The William Herschel Society, which maintains The William Herschel Museum in Bath.

  I owe a great debt of gratitude to the indefatigable Dr. Tom Michalik, retired Professor of Physics from Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia, for his vast knowledge and experience as an astronomer and for his skillful, painstaking, enthusiastic, and patient review of the manuscript and his advice about many scientific aspects of the novel. Any errors of that sort remaining are mine alone. He did his best with me.

  Edd Jennings—man of many talents—was also an attentive and kind and informed reader, and his letters to me about the manuscript were thoughtful and full of rich detail.

  Many graduate students at the University of Virginia were generous about sharing their knowledge with me over the years at the university’s McCormick Observatory.

  A trip to Bath, England, and the surprisingly modest Herschel house and museum there helped me envision more clearly the years Caroline and William spent on New King Street in Bath.

  Jennifer Brice—gifted writer, sympathetic reader, dear friend—heroically read multiple drafts of the novel. I am deeply grateful to her for the comfort and joy of her companionship, and for her continued faith, interest, and patience over the decade of my work on the story, as well as her endless store of good advice and her empathetic understanding of Caroline’s life.

  My daughter Molly McCully Brown was a faithful—and attentive and sensitive—reader of various revisions, and her suggestions were enormously helpful. Her deft touch informs many important scenes in the novel.

  To my brilliant editor, Deb Garrison, and my wise, faithful agent, Lisa Bankoff: my eternal gratitude.

  To Pantheon and all its employees: I am honored to have a seat at the table. Thank you for helping to bring Caroline into the world in this way.

  To my husband, John Gregory Brown, first and last and best reader, who over the many years of my work on the novel told me no, no, no, no, no, and then, at last, yes, I dedicate this book, as I have all the others, with my enduring gratitude, admiration, and love.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Carrie Brown is the author of seven novels and a collection of short stories. She has won many awards for her work, including a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the Barnes and Noble Discover Award, the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, The Great Lakes Book Award, and, twice, the Library of Virginia Award for fiction. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in many literary journals. She and her husband, the novelist John Gregory Brown, live in Massachusetts, where they teach at Deerfield Academy.

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