June 2010 - The News and Events page has been updated with new information!

January 2010 - The Winter/Spring 2010 Tour dates are now posted on the News and Events page!

September 2009 - My Fall Tour dates are now posted on the News and Events page!

April 2009 - From the Women Writing Science series, a collaboration between The Feminist Press and The National Science Foundation.

Reared to believe that she could do anything she set her mind to, young Jillian Greer dreamed of going into space. When she and her research partner Kera Sullivan invented a specialized telescope capable of searching for faraway planets, it looked as though Jillian and Kera would someday fulfill their shared dream.

But ten years later, as Kera trains in a space simulator, Jillian, married and the mother of two children, is packing lunches and helping with homework. As her fortieth birthday draws near, Jillian decides that things have to change.  Leaving her family for ten days, one day for each year she has put her goals on hold, Jillian Greer – astrophysicist, wife, and mother – retreats to the solitude of the forested dunes of northern Lake Michigan, reflecting upon ten years of marriage, interrupted research, and her struggle to get back to the stars.

Compelling and fiercely honest, Base Ten exposes the daily battles of women scientists fighting to preserve a family life and succeed in a discipline that functions on the archaic belief that every scientist has a "wife" at home.

Maryann Lesert portrays engaging characters, along with breathtaking recreations of the natural world, and a fascinating introduction to the world of astronomy.

— Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's Wife

Maryann Lesert has written a lively novel that asks the question, Can a woman for whom significant intellectual work is essential carve out a life with a husband and children as well?

In doing so, Jillian (the main character) engages with many of the tensions that empirical studies, in-depth interviews, biographies, and anecdotal stories have also revealed as central for women scientists.

From the Afterword: "Balancing Lives for Women (and Men) in Science"
— Dr. Sue V. Rosser, Dean of Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen College.