Base Ten

In this “wonderful first novel” an astrophysicist struggles with returning to her career in science after putting it on hold for her family (The Grand Rapids Press).

Raised to believe that she could do anything, astronomer Jillian Greer dreamed of going into space. When she and her research partner Kera Sullivan invented a specialized telescope, it looked as though these two dogged scientists would fulfill the dream they shared.

But ten years later, while Kera trains in a space simulator, Jillian is married with children, packing lunches and helping her kids with homework. With her field’s archaic “all or nothing” mindset, maintaining both a family life and a scientific career seems like an impossible task.

As her fortieth birthday draws near, Jillian decides that she must give her career one more shot. Leaving her family for ten days, one day for each year she has put her career on hold, she seeks solitude in the sand dunes of Lake Michigan, where she struggles to see if she can find her way back to the stars.