A Thin Bright Line by Lucy Jane Bledsoe

Lucybelle Bledsoe is a woman of rare intellect, possessing a sharp scientific mind and refined editorial instincts. When a high-stakes opportunity arises at the peak of the Cold War, she flees a fractured past to join a groundbreaking expedition extracting the world’s first polar ice cores.

Amidst the frozen silence of the Arctic research, Lucybelle finds a dangerous duality. While she contributes to the origins of modern climate science, she must navigate the era's suffocating social constraints. A burgeoning romance offers hope but carries the constant threat of government exposure—a risk that could dismantle her career and her freedom.

A Thin Bright Line is a fictionalized tribute to the author’s aunt. It weaves together queer identity, the paranoia of the 1950s, and the dawn of the civil rights movement into a story about the courage required to live authentically.