Talk Sweetly to Me

Talk Sweetly to Me (2014) Courtney Milan

Set in Greenwich, November 1882

Miss Rose Sweetly is a shop-keepers daughter and a mathematical genius who is currently working as a computer at the Royal Observatory. She is also keeping her pregnant sister company while her husband is away on a tour of duty.

(H)e picked up one of the offending fruits and smiled in her direction. “Why is it that the oranges bounced, but the apples did not?”

His smile felt like an arrow, one that struck her straight in the solar plexus. And so Rose adjusted her spectacles on her nose and said the first thing that came to mind.

Unfortunately, the first thing that came to mind was…

“It’s Newton’s Third Law. Upon collision, the apple exerts a force on the pavement, and so the pavement must exert an equal and opposite force on the apple. The structure of the apple is inelastic and so the apple bruises. The orange, by contrast…” She swallowed, realized that she was babbling, and shut her mouth. “I’m sorry, Mr. Shaughnessy. I don’t think that’s what you meant to ask, was it?”

Stephen Shaughnessy is an author and a rake (and also the author of the “Ask a Man” column of the woman’s paper. But just because he’s a rake, doesn’t make him a complete jerk.

(H)e had a very firm rule that he did not do terrible things to people in general, and to women in particular.

I was very glad when my father came to London to start his own emporium. I wasn’t on display any longer, not until my father tried to have me learn deportment.” Rose smiled. “It didn’t work so well—I didn’t like the idea of performing in society. Eventually, on Patricia’s advice, he bribed me to pay attention by offering me tutoring in higher mathematics.”

As you can tell by the cover, Rose is of African descent, and if this book hadn’t been by an author who has proven she has done her research on other historical topics, I would have skipped it. I can’t give you an opinion as to how a reader of color would take Rose, but it seemed to me that she did a very good job portraying how life would have been for Rose and those like her.

For those who are curious, she did this through Patricia’s pregnancy, and how Patricia was treated by the doctor. But these scenes weren’t just to show racism of the time, Patricia was integral to the story

I particularly loved Rose’s dream.

THAT NIGHT, ROSE DREAMED that a column of numbers was chasing her through some odd, non-Cartesian landscape, a vista of lines and swirling colors. In the distance, someone was laughing—not a cruel laugh, or even a laugh at her expense. Just a friendly, welcoming laugh.

The numbers caught her, taking hold of her shoulder. She jerked away, but they held her fast.

How did numbers grip? She turned to them, fascinated…and very groggily came awake.

That is an actual dream, not the stuff that authors and movies often pretend are dreams.

One thing I keep forgetting to mention–you should make a point to read her author’s notes (I’ve quoted from them before) because they tell you where some of the historical bits come from.

The other source of inspiration for this was a real woman. Her name is Shakuntala Devi, and she was known as the human computer for her ability to calculate complex cube roots in her head in a matter of seconds. Her roots were modest—her father was a circus performer—but not only was she a mathematical genius, she also wrote cookbooks, nonfiction on homosexuality, nonfiction on learning mathematics, and novels (many of these are available as ebooks today). She even ran for office.

One thing I do not like about this book is that Rose succumbed to Stephen prior to marriage. I realize that Courtney Milan writes boinking books, and so boinking is expected, but those portions of the story felt false to me–I didn’t really believe that Rose would have made such a decision, no matter how good of a rake Stephen was. (Though I do appreciate that it WAS Rose’s decision entirely.)
Rating: 7/10

Published by Courtney Milan

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