Half Life

More about the book

In 1891 Poland, Marie Curie, then Marya Sklodowska, faced heartbreak when her fiancé, Kazimierz Zorawski, ended their engagement due to his mother's disapproval of her background. Devastated, Marya moved to Paris to study chemistry and physics at the Sorbonne, ultimately becoming the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and revolutionizing science. This narrative poses an intriguing alternative: what if Marya had chosen a different path? If she had married Kazimierz at twenty-four, forsaking her education and the discovery of radium, she would have led a life of domesticity in a time when women's education was limited in Russian Poland. Through the intertwining of Marie Curie's true story and the fictional life of Marya Zorawska, the novel delves into themes of lost love, unfulfilled destinies, loyalty, identity, gender, class, and the complexities of motherhood and sisterhood. By exploring contrasting versions of Marya's life, the story raises questions about the impact of denied opportunities on a brilliant mind and how such choices could have altered the trajectory of science, history, and the lives of those around her.