Stretching between these figures is a cast of artists, writers, and scientists--mostly women, mostly queer--whose public contribution has risen out of their unclassifiable and often heartbreaking private relationships to...Stretching between these figures is a cast of artists, writers, and scientists--mostly women, mostly queer--whose public contribution has risen out of their unclassifiable and often heartbreaking private relationships to change the way we understand, experience, and appreciate the universe. Among them are the astronomer maria mitchell, who paved the way for women in science; the sculptor harriet hosmer, who did the same in art; the journalist and literary critic margaret fuller, who sparked the feminist movement; and the poet emily dickinson.