The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics is the story of a young female astronomer, Lucy Muchelney who has never had the chance to complete work in her own right. When her father (the named astronomer on what is essentially her work) dies, she visits his patron, the Countess of Moth, to ask if she can take on the translation of a French astronomy text.
I have to say, there was so much about this book I loved. It's a romance, but it's so much more than that. It's a love letter to all the silenced women who have made contributions to science and the arts without ever being recognised for it. It's a treaty on art and science and what binds them. The plot pretty much follows Lucy's translation of the astronomy text and weaves in the growing romance between her and the countess.
And blimey, what a romance. There's a slow build of feels, but the actual romance happens fairly early on in the book (totally not complaining) and from then on it's all about how they navigate their relationship in a time when most people didn't even think lesbians existed because how could women be so jolly unnatural?? HOW?? I shipped these two so hard and their romance was by no means obstacle-free (but we did get an HEA in the end :-))
The author does an amazing job of poking at nineteenth century attitudes towards women being involved in anything academic, without making the protagonists' responses seem anachronistic. Their views - and their internalised misogyny - feel real.
I enjoyed this book so much - 100% recommended.
5 stars