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A Lady Astronaut Novel
by Mary Robinette Kowal
In an alternate history, a global catastrophe forces a greatly accelerated space program - and puts stress on the gender barriers that keep women astronauts on the ground.
On a cold spring night in 1952, a meteorite falls to earth and destroys much of the eastern seaboard of the United States, including Washington D.C. The Meteor, as it is popularly known, decimates the U.S. government and paves the way for a climate cataclysm that will eventually render the earth inhospitable to humanity. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated timeline in the earth's efforts to colonize space, and allows a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process.
One of these new entrants in the space race is Elma York, whose experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition's attempts to put man on the moon. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn't take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can't go into space, too - aside from some pesky barriers like thousands of years of history and a host of expectations about the proper place of the fairer sex. And yet, Elma's drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions may not stand a chance against her.
Hugo Awards, 2019
The Nebula Awards, 2019
"Starred Review. Readers will thrill to the story of this "lady astronaut" and eagerly anticipate the promised sequels." - Publishers Weekly
"A perfect novel to continue the Hidden Figures love. Especially refreshing is the nuanced exploration of protagonist Elma York's growing understanding of inequality." - Library Journal
"While there's a fascinating alternate history here of humanity's quest for the stars, it could stand to be told with characters who are a little more human." - Kirkus
"In The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal imagines an alternate history of spaceflight that reminds me of everything I loved about Hidden Figures." - Cady Coleman, Astronaut
This information about The Calculating Stars was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the historical fantasy novels Ghost Talkers and the five books in The Glamourist Histories series. She is also a multiple Hugo Award winner. Her short fiction has appeared in Uncanny, Tor.com, and Asimov's. Mary, a professional puppeteer, lives in Chicago with her husband Robert and over a dozen manual typewriters.
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