Typhus left Caroline Herschel four feet three inches tall and blind in one eye, and her mother concluded that settled the matter: unmarriageable, therefore a household servant for life. Anna Herschel went further than assigning chores. She forbade her daughter from learning French or advancing past basic mending, because a girl with those skills could become a governess and leave. It was a containment strategy, and it nearly worked. Caroline's father Isaac sneaked her violin lessons when his wife was out of the house, and after he died she was trapped in Hanover until her brothers William and Alexander pitched their mother an escape framed in the only language she respected, money: send Caroline to Bath and see whether she can earn as a singer.

She could. She became the principal soloist in William's oratorio concerts and was offered a fest ...