A revolution was underway in France, and the King, Louis XVI, was on trial, accused of treason. George Washington was re-elected President of the United States. Gas was being used to create illumination, like the sun they said. A new method of execution, the Guillotine, was being tested in France.
Denmark had abolished the slave trade.
There were experiments in electrical currents and magnetism. What shape was the earth? Was it a long spheroid, like a fat man with a cinched waist? Or was it flat, like a squashed mango?
Nobody quite knew.
I had just turned eighteen. I was very interested in magnetism.
How one object was propelled to another. Man to man, woman to child, sister to brother. I knew so little then. But I was sure that studying science was the way to a new world, a truth, and a world far removed from my own.
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Antonia
Historical FictionLate 17th century when Venezuela was still a colony, Spain was at war again and Antonia's mother has just died. She is 18 years old, restless, rebellious, and promised to a marriage she does not want. Her horrible aunt rules the house now, but Anton...