Publisher: Harper Perennial / Harper Audio
Published: March 23, 2021
Source: Print – Paperback via Publisher / Audio via Library
Summary:
The USA Today bestselling author of In Another Time reimagines the pioneering, passionate life of Marie Curie using a parallel structure to create two alternative timelines, one that mirrors her real life, one that explores the consequences for Marie and for science if she’d made a different choice.
In Poland in 1891, Marie Curie (then Marya Sklodowska) was engaged to a budding mathematician, Kazimierz Zorawski. But when his mother insisted she was too poor and not good enough, he broke off the engagement. A heartbroken Marya left Poland for Paris, where she would attend the Sorbonne to study chemistry and physics. Eventually Marie Curie would go on to change the course of science forever and be the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
But what if she had made a different choice?
What if she had stayed in Poland, married Kazimierz at the age of twenty-four, and never attended the Sorbonne or discovered radium? What if she had chosen a life of domesticity with a constant hunger for knowledge in Russian Poland where education for women was restricted, instead of studying science in Paris and meeting Pierre Curie?
Entwining Marie Curie’s real story with Marya Zorawska’s fictional one, Half Life explores loves lost and destinies unfulfilled—and probes issues of loyalty and identity, gender and class, motherhood and sisterhood, fame and anonymity, scholarship and knowledge. Through parallel contrasting versions of Marya’s life, Jillian Cantor’s unique historical novel asks what would have happened if a great scientific mind was denied opportunity and access to education. It examines how the lives of one remarkable woman and the people she loved – as well as the world at large and course of science and history—might have been irrevocably changed in ways both great and small.
My thoughts:
This is the first book I’ve read by Jillian Cantor and I cannot believe I’ve waited so long to pick up one of her books! But as soon as I saw that she had written about Marie Curie I just knew I had to read this one…and I’m so glad I did because I really enjoyed this one.
I loved the way this book was formatted! Using the ‘what-if’ scenario, Cantor takes us on an alternate reality with what could have happened had Marie Curie not made one decision in her life. Remember that movie Sliding Doors? It’s one of my favorite movies and that is very much what this book reminds me of. I loved how the book alternated between Marie’s actual life and this alternate reality that Cantor created. I was equally engaged and invested in both and definitely went down a few rabbit holes both during and after reading this book.
Historical fiction is by far becoming a favorite genre again and it’s books like this that are the reason. This is such a great thought-provoking read. Our main character, Marie Curie, then known as Marya Sklodowska, was at a huge crossroads in her life. And instead of just having her follow one path, we see what could have happened had she followed her ‘what if.’ And while doing so, I feel that the author did such a fantastic job staying true to who Marie really was as a person while exploring this other avenue had circumstances been different.
I absolutely loved this book. I loved the inside look into Marie Curie’s life and I loved the writing of Jillian Cantor and the thought-provoking messages she provides us. It really would make an excellent book for book clubs as there is so much to discuss here – the decision of education and learning over love, the role of women in history, how women handle being smarter than men are just a few topics. It really is such a fantastic, engaging read and I can’t recommend it enough!
Audio thoughts:
When I saw that Cassandra Campbell was narrating this, I knew I had to listen, so I ended up alternating between the print and audio. This allowed me to stop reading at all, which I loved! Cassandra really did a fantastic job with this narration and it was so easy to jump back in wherever I left off in the book. Whether you read or listen, this book is perfect in any format!
