Mercia, the astronomer royal: A romance

Set in a projected early-twenty-first-century world, the narrative imagines political consolidation, technological advance, and an enforced peace made inevitable by destructive modern warfare. It follows sweeping social change, particularly the struggle for women’s education, legal rights, and professional equality, and shows how inventions transform household labor and employment. Against this engineered backdrop personal relationships and institutional life are depicted, blending speculative social commentary with romantic episodes and scenes of scientific practice, and examining how shifting customs and mechanical conveniences reshape gender roles, marriage, and civic expectations.