The Movement of Stars

December 24, 2012
A determined young woman, born into a Quaker community in 19th-century Nantucket, defies social norms on the path to becoming a “lady astronomer” in Brill’s charming debut novel. Very loosely based on historical “girl” astronomer Maria Mitchell, Hannah Price spends her days going to Quaker meetings and tending to books at her town’s library, but nights she spends with her eyes on celestial bodies or crouched over mathematical calculations, dreaming of discovering a comet all her own. A serious girl obsessed with the pursuit of knowledge, Hannah fears the passionate restlessness of her twin brother Edward, even as she rejects the strictures of marrying to attain stability. Hannah’s sober routine is interrupted when she takes on a new pupil, Isaac Martin, a sailor from the Azores, whose race shakes up Hannah’s standing in the town. Martin’s ideas and instinctive personal connection with his new teacher alter her attitude toward love and faith. From the main streets of Nantucket to its dunes and shores, from a Harvard observatory to the cities of Europe, Hannah’s emotional and professional journey will please fans of feminist-minded and romantic historical fiction. Agent: Julie Barer, Barer Literary.

Starred review from February 15, 2013
A young woman has her eyes opened to her community's limitations--and her own--in television writer/producer Brill's strong debut. In the small, tightly controlled Quaker settlement on Nantucket in 1845, 24-year-old Hannah Price's principal duties are to behave and dress with sober decorum and to find a husband. Though her father has encouraged her passion for astronomy since she was a girl, he's lost interest in celestial observations since her beloved twin brother, Edward, shipped out on a whaling vessel nearly three years earlier. Hannah dreams of sighting a new comet and winning the King of Denmark's prize, but when her long-widowed father announces that he plans to remarry and relocate to Philadelphia, assuming as a matter of course that Hannah must accompany him, she sees painfully and angrily how little control she has over her own life. She is further unsettled by Isaac Martin, a sailor from the Azores who brings his ship's chronometer to be recalibrated and asks Hannah to teach him how to use it. Quakers are against slavery but hardly free of racial prejudice; Hannah's sessions with Isaac scandalize the meeting--and though her critics are narrow-minded, they're not wrong that she is uneasily attracted to a man she has been raised to believe is beneath her. Hannah is by no means a saintly heroine; as her returned brother's new wife points out, she is quick to judge and slow to see anything that can't be observed through astronomical instruments. In spare yet luminous prose, Brill shows Hannah achieving emotional and spiritual growth to match her intellectual gifts: Gaining her heart's desire to be recognized as a scientist, she also finds the courage to acknowledge her feelings for Isaac. Brill's realistic, poignant conclusion gives her appealing protagonist almost equal portions of happiness and sorrow, just as she has done equal justice throughout to the passions of the mind and the flesh. Probing yet accessible, beautifully written and richly characterized: fine work from a writer to watch.

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November 15, 2012

A writer and producer who has worked for PBS and MTV, Brill sets her debut historical on 1845 Nantucket, where 24-year-old Hannah Gardner Price is up on the roof each night, hoping to discover a comet. Inspired by the life of Maria Mitchell, the first professional female astronomer in America.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2013
Hannah Price spends her nights on the rooftop porch with a telescope pointed at the heavens, hoping to spot a new comet. During the day, she chafes under the strict discipline of her mid-nineteenth-century Quaker community in Nantucket. She also chafes under her own sense of propriety and self-discipline when she finds herself drawn to handsome and passionate Isaac, the Azorean second mate on a whaling vessel who has sought her out for instruction in navigation. Their obstacles are similarboth hope to achieve greatness in disciplines dominated by white menand soon Hannah cannot deny her affection, much to the displeasure of her community. Brill has created a compelling and likable character in Hannah Price; it's easy to root for her to find her comet and acknowledge her feelings for Isaac. Hannah's search during a period of great discovery and advancement in astronomy, as well as her relationship with Isaac amid widespread abolitionist sentiments, adds up to a stirring historical drama. In an author's note, Brill acknowledges that pioneering, Nantucket-born, comet-discovering astronomer Maria Mitchell was the inspiration for Hannah's story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2013

Although she spends hours searching the heavens from her father's rooftop observatory, Hannah Price lives a circumscribed earthly life in 1845 Nantucket. Attendance at meetings of the Society of Friends and work as junior librarian in the Atheneum structure her days. Everything changes after she agrees to teach Isaac Martin, a black seaman from the Azores. Their association progresses from lessons on mathematics and astronomy to discussion of their lives plus a growing physical attraction. Despite the Quakers' professed support of racial equality, the community ultimately condemns and excludes Hannah. Without the support of a father, brother, or husband, Hannah has little chance to attain her dream of discovering a comet and winning the gold medal offered by the king of Denmark. VERDICT Inspired by and incorporating details from the life of Maria Mitchell, America's first female professional astronomer, Brill's debut raises thought-provoking questions on the limitations to achievement societies impose based on race, gender, or divergent beliefs. For readers of historical fiction, particularly those with an interest in science, who savor the unfolding of a character's emotional and intellectual development. [See Prepub Alert, 11/1/12.]--Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Mankato

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.