Anne-Marie Smith is a divorcee in the early 60s, when wives are supposed to ignore their husbands’ infidelities. She’s determined to be independent, even though it’s her father’s money that has moved her and her two children from Dallas to this Houston suburb, so she tosses out the movers, throws herself into the job she never wanted to have, ignores the gossip, and resents every offer of help from her gorgeous — and famous — new astronaut neighbor.

Commander Christopher “Kit” Campbell wants only one thing: to go to space. As part of the legendary Perseid Six, he’s been profiled in Life Magazine, he’s part of the team that’s working to beat the Soviets, and he’s also a little bored. There’s a lot more paperwork to being an astronaut than you’d think. When a gorgeous redhead moves in next door, he’s intrigued and hits on her both out of desire and out of habit.

The things keeping our lovers apart are natural outgrowths of their lived experiences. Anne-Marie is suspicious of Kit’s charm, his playboy past, and his intentions, because she’s had her heart broken by infidelity once already. She’s also leery of his fame and the press surrounding his life. As they get closer, she has to deal with the emotional realities of being close to someone who literally risks his life for his job. Kit, for his turn, is wary of the hero-worship her kids naturally have for him and the constant pressure he feels to be larger than life. His focus is on a high-pressure, politically complicated job, and anything other than fleeting encounters are a distraction.

The slow way these two get to know one another and begin to be able to read one another’s moods, defenses, habits, and quirks is believable and well-paced. There’s a fabulous and plot-advancing dog as well as the aforementioned children that help keep things from moving too quickly. The book also includes a cadre of astronaut wives who range from highly organized and commanding through slightly boozy and gossipy to the upright Navy wife. The book deftly limns women whose skills were primarily channeled into supporting the careers of their husbands without undermining their strength, intelligence, or capability.

Part of the fun of this book is the period detail: Anne-Marie figuring out how to book flights using enormous compendia of every scheduled route; how one solves a dinner-party emergency when the dog has claimed the roast and the butcher is closed; what we did and didn’t know about what space looked like and the Earth looked like from space before we got there; the (sadly not all that unfamiliar) different expectations placed on women, both sartorially and behaviorally, than on men. It’s an era that could easily devolve into caricature, but it never does.

This is a sweet book that is well worth your while.

Star Dust is the first book in the “Fly Me to the Moon” series, and as a lure it’s free on Amazon. Click here to get your copy.