A to Z Reviews: “When the Morning Stars Sang Together,” by Isaac Szpindel
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Isaac Szpindel’s “When the Morning Stars Sang Together” appeared in the 2004 alternate history anthology ReVisions, which Szpindel co-edited with Julie E, Czerneda, which explored alternative technological advancements. Szpindel’s story, set in the twentieth century, looks at a world in which Galileo reconciled science with the Church rather than being persecuted for championing the scientific method.
The main character has been given access to letters written by Galileo to his older daughter, Maria Celeste, who was a nun at the San Matteo convent. In real life, while Maria Celeste’s letters to Galileo have survived, his letters to her are lost. Szpindel tells his story by alternating between the text of those lost letters and the events which are happening to the modern scholar who is studying them and coming to conclusions that, in his world, as are heretical as the conclusions Galileo came to in our world in the seventeenth century.