Starstruck

In a beautifully written, science-packed debut memoir, Egyptian-American astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance shares her personal story of resilience and liberation by grounding herself in her lifelong love of the stars. 

As a child, Sarafina El-Badry Nance spent nearly every evening with her father gazing up at the flickering stars and pondering what secrets the night sky held. She dreamt of becoming an astronomer from the age of five, but it wasn’t long before she was told, both explicitly and implicitly, that girls just weren’t cut out for math and science.

In Starstruck, Sarafina captures the wonders of the universe and traces more earthbound obstacles—of misogyny and racism, abuse and intergenerational trauma, anxiety and self-doubt, cancer diagnoses and recovery—she faced along the way. The strategies and mindset Sarafina developed to thrive in a space that is, by design, not for women and especially not for women of color, are not only applicable to her career in astrophysics but directly carry over into other areas of life. Honest and empowering, Starstruck sits at the intersection of the study of our cosmos—itself constantly changing—and the messy and transformative experience of pursuing one’s passion through life’s inevitable challenges.