MARIE CURIE AND HER DAUGHTERS by Shelley Emling

Shelley Emling, Marie Curie and Her Daughters: The Private Lives of Science’s First Family (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

Also available on Nook and Kindle.

(BIOGRAPHY) 

Reviewed by Yvonne Addis

"The year was 1921, and I was a lad of seven." So writes my father, Laird C. Addis, Sr. about his cherished meeting with two-time Nobel winner Madame Marie Curie in New York City, an experience that grew out of his connection with Mrs. William Brown Meloney, editor of The Delineator, a popular women's magazine of the era. As private secretary to "Missy" Meloney, my grandmother, Ruth Beard Addis, worked for a woman who had access to celebrated people all over the world.

As the story of the second act of M. Curie's life begins, Missy Meloney emerges as a central figure in the lives of Marie Curie and her daughters, as well. When Marie Curie became famous for her discovery of radium, Missy went to Paris to accompany Marie to America by steamer in 1921. During this celebrated visit, President Harding presented Marie with a gram of radium at the White House to take back to Paris for M. Curie's laboratory.  

This book is an intimate portrait of the professional and private lives of the family of a legendary scientist - Marie, her husband, scientist Pierre Curie, her Nobel prize-winning chemist daughter Irene and her literary daughter, Eve. The book is dedicated to girls and women everywhere as they pursue study in the fields of math and science.

As a widowed mother of two, Marie struggled with sexism, physical and mental health challenges and the rejection of the French establishment because of her relationship with a married man. Marie, however, was determined to live her life as she saw fit and passed on her resilience to her daughters.  I was particularly moved by Marie's lack of interest in fame or fortune. What she wanted for herself and her daughters was to have a simple family life and work that interested them.

In recommending this compelling biography of science's first family, I believe the family of Laird Addis, Sr. ~ and others ~ will find this account of Marie Curie and her daughters stretching their era's concept of the possibilities for women to be an interesting read.

THE WISH HOUSE by Celia Rees

Celia Rees, The Wish House ((Cambridge, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2006).

Cecelia Rees, The Wish House, read by Christopher Cazenove (Random House Audio, 2007).

(YOUNG ADULT NOVEL)

Reviewed by Wilda Morris

Richard receives and invitation to a gallery in Soho (in London). He doesn’t know why Clio has invited him. He is afraid he is opening himself up to more hurt if he goes. He hasn’t seen her for six years and he hadn’t expected to see her again. But he can’t quite resist.

Of all the summers of his life, one summer stands out in Richard’s memory: the summer of the Wish House.

Richard is the only child in a fairly conservative family. Each summer for years they have taken their camper to the same seaside town. His father fished while his mother sat outside and read books. In previous summers, Richard had spent most of his time with Dylan, the son of the owners of the campground. Dylan is a couple years older than Richard, and this summer, he is working fulltime for his father. Richard is on his own.

Richard and Dylan used to play in the garden of an abandoned house, one they called “the Wish House,” so it seems like a good place to begin his summer adventures. This time, however, as he enters the garden alone he comes upon a big surprise: a naked woman lying on the grass. He had never seen a naked woman before. This was his first introduction to the family of artist Jethro Dalton, a family whose motto seems to be “nothing forbidden.” A witches’ garden sports poisonous plants, children call their parents by their first names, mother and son smoke pot together, the ex-wife comes to visit, “magic mushrooms” are hunted in the woods, the mother tells fortunes—Richard learns that the ways of this strange family with their “bohemian” life-style are very unlike the ways of his own family.

It is a summer of first love, first sex, first betrayal, first death. This is a coming-of-age novel with some surprising plot turns. The structure of the novel is creative. Rees goes back and forth between descriptions or notes on the paintings and drawing exhibited in the gallery and the memories they evoke in Richard. There is a final meeting between Richard and Clio, and the reader gets the sense that this exhibit has helped both of them make sense of much of what happened that summer and gain some healing.

Maybe I’m too old fashioned, but I wouldn’t give this book to a teenager to read, though it is listed as a Young Adult novel. College students might have an interesting discussion of this book, however. The structure, plot and characters kept me reading to the end.

In conclusion . . . .

In conclusion, I recommend this book. Wait. “In conclusion?” That’s not how a review should start, is it? Generally speaking,no. But when a book starts with Chapter 36 and ends with Chapter 1, it kinda sorta makes sense.

Starting at the end with Chapter 36, I thought, “I don’t know if I can read this. It’s too weird.” Continuing from the end to the beginning, around Chapter 32, I decided I was getting it and to stick with it. 

“You’ve always liked this author, so just keep going,” I said to myself. Chapter 20 – “I can’t stand this anymore! I am so confused. Maybe I should just go the end and start with Chapter 1 and read backwards. Or is that forward?” Chapter 15 or so – “No, he’s doing this for a reason. It’s starting to make sense. Stick with it.” Chapter 12 – “This is not making any sense at all!” 

And then came the beginning, at the end of the book – Chapters 5, 4, 3, 2 and finally 1. “OMG!” “Is this for real?” “Are you kidding me?” “I can’t believe it.” “That is so bizarre!” So after finishing the beginning, no, wait, the ending, oh, heck, Chapter 1 at the end, I read the dedication, forward and acknowledgements that followed Chapter 1 at the end and then had to go read the end at the beginning of the book again – good old Chapter 36.

So, in conclusion (see, I got back to the end again), if you like intriguing books that are mysteries, this is a good one. Or if you like mysteries that are intriguing, this works for that, too. And now that I am at the end of this review, I give you what would normally be the beginning, the title and author: The October List by Jeffrey Deaver.

Reviewed by Bea Webber Haskins

(MYSTERY)

Also available on Kindle and Nook, and as an audiobook

Jeffrey Deaver, The October List (Grand Central Publishing, 2013).