Two Moons

At the Naval Observatory, astronomers gazing up at the stars discover the two moons of Mars, but they come down with malaria and must contend with Reconstruction politics. Readers see this through the eyes of Cynthia May, a witty, freethinking war widow. Mallon refracts questions of war, woman's rights, and the ordering of the cosmos through the prism of his heroine's mind, mixing keen social commentary with sheer entertainment.