Review: The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics

The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Finished on April 27, 2021

Favorite Scene/Quote: "So much for fossils. Something here still lived."

4.5/5 rounded up

I was a bit wary of this book at first because I thought there’d be too much drama, too many historical references, or even too much science. While these things did exist, none of them were overpowering and they made the book great.
    
Lucy is an astronomer studying under her father. After her father dies and she watches her lover get married, she ends up fleeing to London. She is answering the call of Countess Catherine, who put out word that she has a French astronomy text in need of translation. Catherine is a widow who planned to hand the text off to someone, but she finds herself confronted with Lucy who is begging to do the work. She’s hesitant but allows the woman in and finds herself impressed. The two grow closer as Lucy makes her way through the translation and soon Catherine is discovering things about herself that she never really allowed herself to consider prior.

I really loved both of these characters. Lucy is so bright and determined. She’s aware of the fact that men are going to look down on her for her work, but she’s determined to make them see. If she can produce a perfect work, surely, they’ll take notice. Catherine was previously married to a scholar and is wary of allowing another scholar in who might be too much like her husband. She has issues from her past marriage, but she’s also very graceful and gracious. Her servants seem to truly care about her, and she seems willing to help those who have been ignored.

One of the things I didn’t expect was to care so much about Catherine. More specifically, about Catherine’s feelings regarding her work. Waite wrote her emotions and thoughts about embroidery so well. Catherine had never considered her work as art or meaningful and it was heartbreaking to read. I cared so much about the fact that she assumed there was no worth in her art, and that it was too domestic and ladylike to even truly be considered art. I loved it so much. I also loved that Waite showed it developing as she found people to support her. She put together a book of scientific and fantastical embroidery designs and went to the press to see if there was interest. Lucy encouraged her to do that and at the end also encouraged her to have female art in the fund they are going to have, including embroidery designs. It was amazing. I also want to know what some of the outfits she did would look like.

I only had a couple of issues with this book, and they were mainly pretty small. My issues were that sometimes the science part seemed overly complicated and like it dragged on a bit much. I knew going in that it was likely going to play a part in the book, but I was confused sometimes by some of the terms used. I also found some of the older terms to be a bit confusing. I was reading this book at a time when I didn’t have a dictionary handy, so I had to use context clues and I’m not sure I understood all of the terms.

Altogether, I quite loved this book. The characters were nice and charming, and it was so nice to watch them struggle through things to become closer to one another. I do wish there might have been more communication towards the end (about their issues) and that there might have been more time dedicated to Catherine exploring and understanding this side of her, but the book is really good.