Shiny New Beginnings: Reaching for Celestial Bodies in Romance and Research

Authors

Alexandra C. H. Nowakowski, Florida State University College of MedicineFollow

Abstract

This commentary explores a series of social fiction novels about relationships through the lens of ethnographic research. It amplifies the lessons about love and life from Dr. Patricia Leavy’s Celestial Bodies series focused around two people with complex trauma finding kinship and healing with one another after a chance meeting. In the process, it uplifts the rigor and uniqueness of Leavy’s methods in translating findings from many years of observational research with people in different kinds of relationships to the social fiction format whose name she coined herself. In journeying through a shared life with main protagonists Tess Lee and Jack Miller, readers discover a thriving ecology of connections and histories spanning multiple families and locations, and come away with deeper sociological understanding of how people shape and are shaped by their close relationships. Leavy’s stories center the idea of starting anew after trauma or conflict as a leitmotif in guiding readers through a diverse cast of characters and situations centering family, love, and teamwork.

Keywords

ethnography, social fiction, beginnings, love, relationships, storytelling, life history, narrative research, novels, participant observation

Author Bio(s)

Dr. Alexandra “Xan” C.H. Nowakowski is an Associate Professor in the Geriatrics & Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine departments at Florida State University College of Medicine. They are a medical sociologist and public health program evaluator focused on aging with chronic disease and related social justice issues. Currently they serve as lead evaluator for the Florida Asthma Program, FSU’s collaborative REACH Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program, and the ACTS 2 training and support program for African American dementia caregivers. They also co-founded the Write Where It Hurts project on scholarship engaging lessons from lived experience of hardship and trauma, drawing on their own history with the progressive genetic disease cystic fibrosis and post-traumatic stress from domestic abuse.

Publication Date

3-3-2025

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2025.7949

Recommended APA Citation

Nowakowski, A. (2025). Shiny new beginnings: Reaching for Celestial Bodies in romance and research. The Qualitative Report, 30(2), 3203-3215. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2025.7949