Double the Stars

by Kelley Swain

In 1844, at 94 years of age, Caroline Herschel was in the midst of a frustrated attempt at writing her memoirs. She sent the writings and many letters to her niece Arabella, suggesting the girl ‘twist it into a Novel entitled The Life and Adventures of Miss Caroline Herschel’. Arabella never wrote the proposed novel, but Caroline’s story is brought to life in Double the Stars.

Escaping a life of drudgery with her mother, Caroline becomes a successful singer in high society 1780s Bath, but this life is wrenched from her when her brother, William, is appointed astronomer to King George III.

As William makes discoveries that shoot him to celebrity, Caroline falls in love with astronomy for herself, making her own discoveries about the skies she sweeps from the roof-top. Friendship, love, betrayal and loyalty compete in this beautifully rendered life of an extraordinary woman living in extraordinary times.

Writing with the precision and clarity of an award-winning poet, Kelley Swain’s debut novel is charming, fresh and engaging. A luminous, compelling story from a highly talented young author.

166 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Kelley Swain lives in rural Oxfordshire. She is a freelance writer and critic, and contributes regularly to The Lancet medical journals' arts and culture pages.

In 2016, she was one of three poets-in-residence at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and was artist-in-residence at Duke University for November 2016.

The Naked Muse, Kelley's memoir of working as an artists' model, was published in 2016.

Kelley was Guest Lecturer in Humanities in Global Health for three years, at Imperial College London.

She is the author of the poetry collections Atlantic (Cinnamon Press, 2014), Opera di Cera (Valley Press, 2014), Darwin's Microscope (Flambard Press, 2009). Her debut novel, Double the Stars, was by Cinnamon Press in September 2014.

From 2009 - 2012, while poet-in-residence at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Kelley edited two collections of art and poetry: Pocket Horizon (Valley Press, 2013), and The Rules of Form: Sonnets and Slide Rules (Whipple Museum, 2012).

She is a member of the Greenwich-based Nevada Street Poets, which has been running since 2008.

Reviews

[Fiona Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the true story of Caroline Herschel, the first woman to be paid a salary for contributions to Science in the UK. She followed her brother from Germany to England with first, a musical career, before somewhat reluctantly making the jump into his passion, astronomy. Over a long and fruitful career for both herself and her brother, she independently discovered 8 comets and redressed many issues with the reference manual for the stars at the time. It's an interesting story, with a mix of all aspects of her life from work to relationships and social/cultural events. Not 100% sure it's my favourite style of writing but it's not difficult to read and a nice length.

[Kate Fewkes · Rating 5 out of 5]

herschel