The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Signature of All Things is an extraordinary story of botany, exploration and desire, spanning across much of the nineteenth century. The novel follows the fortunes of the brilliant Alma Whittaker – daughter of a bold and charismatic botanical explorer – who comes into her own within the world of plants and science. As Alma’s careful studies of moss take her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, the man she loves draws her in the opposite direction and into the realm of the spiritual.

The Atomic Weight of Love by Elizabeth J. Church

In 1941, spirited, ambitious and determined to prove worthy of the sacrifices her mother made for her, Meridian Wallace won a place at the University of Chicago to study ornithology. The last thing she expects is to fall in love with her brilliant physics professor, Alden Whetstone. When he is recruited to take part in a mysterious wartime project, Meridian defers her plans to join him and agrees to give Alden a year of her life. But what begins as an electrifying intellectual partnership soon evolves into something quite different, and Meridian must strive to resist the clipping of her wings.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Among the tangled waterways and giant anacondas of the Brazilian Rio Negro, an enigmatic scientist is developing a drug that could alter the lives of women for ever. Dr Annick Swenson’s work is shrouded in mystery; she refuses to report on her progress, especially to her investors, whose patience is fast running out. Anders Eckman, a mild-mannered lab researcher, is sent to investigate. When a curt letter reporting his untimely death returns, the task of retrieving information falls to Marina Singh – Anders’ colleague and once a student of the mighty Dr Swenson. In this ancient corner of the jungle, Marina will face challenges beyond her wildest imagination.

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

Inspired by a real figure in history, Remarkable Creatures is the story of Mary Anning, who has a talent for finding fossils, and whose discovery of ancient marine reptiles such as that ichthyosaur shakes the scientific community and leads to new ways of thinking about the creation of the world. Working in an arena dominated by middle-class men, however, Mary finds herself out of step with her working-class background. In danger of being an outcast in her community, she takes solace in an unlikely friendship with Elizabeth Philpot, a prickly London spinster with her own passion for fossils.

Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton

This is a story about two outsiders searching for meaning at the edges of human civilization; Augustine is an aging astronomer left alone at a remote research center in the Arctic, and Sully is an astronaut returning to Earth when Mission Control falls inexplicably silent. Isolated in the cold, barren sweep of the Arctic and the infinite vacuum of space, Augustine and Sully each face an uncertain future, looking back on the people they have loved and lost, the choices they have made, and the memories that persist in the hush of isolation. Against two forbidding yet beautiful landscapes, their stories gradually intertwine in a profound and unexpected conclusion.

The Movement of Stars by Amy Brill

It is 1845, and Hannah Gardner Price dreams of a world infinitely larger than the small Quaker community where she’s lived all her life. As an amateur astronomer, she secretly hopes to discover a comet and win the King of Denmark’s prize for doing so. When Hannah meets Isaac Martin, a young black whaler from the Azores who has ambitions of his own, she agrees to tutor him in the art of navigation. This story is loosely inspired by the work of Maria Mitchell, the first American woman to become a professional astronomer.