The Lady Astronomer (24 page)

For the real story of Caroline Herschel,
and her remarkable life, the easiest place to look is on the internet, where
there is much written about her.

All The king’s Horses And All The king’s Men–Or
Rather, His Children

King George III and Queen Charlotte had
fifteen children, thirteen of whom survived beyond babyhood. A lot has been
written about the king and his illnesses, and between bouts of being so sick he
did seem to recover fully. And of course he knew his children’s names, he loved
them so dearly that it was the untimely death of one little one that was his
undoing.

Orion And Leibniz

Both the Lemur and the European Eagle Owl
(owls in general, in fact) have the reputation of not being, shall we say, the
brightest of creatures. While doing research for The Lady Astronomer, I asked a
number of different people in varying professions (including a couple of
astronomers, a keeper at an animal sanctuary, and a keeper at a bird of prey
centre) which animal they would choose to assist while doing the kind of work
that Lucretia did. And no, they were very nice actually and didn’t even laugh
in my face or anything. The answer, in every case, was either a monkey (sorry
Leibniz!) or an owl. Appearances can be deceptive, so embrace the difference.

About the Author

Katy is an arts and entertainment
journalist and has worked for Time Out, Associated Newspapers and Comic Relief
and her articles have appeared in The Times (London), Metro (London) and many
other arts and entertainment publications, paper and online.

Alongside writing with her Dad under the
pen-name Derry O’Dowd, whose first book ‘The Scarlet Ribbon’ was chosen to
launch the History Press Ireland’s fiction line, she writes under her own name.

Katy reviews for the Historical Novels
Review and the British Fantasy Society. She is a commissioning editor at
Pendragon Press and is co-editor of the Nasty Snips II project for that press.

Katy blogs at
www.katyodowd.com