A Wigwam for a Goose's Bridle

Have you ever wondered how much impact a single one of your life choices has on the rest of your life, and perhaps on those around you? I certainly have. Half Life is a fictitious account of the life of Marie Curie – both of her life as we know it, moving to Paris, marrying Pierre Curie, discovering radium and polonium, winning two Nobel prizes etc – and of an alternative life in which she stayed with her teenage sweetheart instead, despite his parents’ disapproval. Both stories were compelling in and of themselves, and I really enjoyed the way Jillian Cantor was able to thread the same people into both stories with different outcomes.

As a scientist, a doctor, and a mother, I found this book a bit close to home in places when it was examining that perennial question: can women have it all? Can I be a good mother, present to my children, and still work and find fulfilment outside the home? We know the answer to that is yes, but we also know that when we choose to spread ourselves across both, there will be instances where one must take precedence over the other. Cantor portrayed this poignantly with “real” Marie’s lack of leisure time with her children and difficulty relating to her daughter who preferred music to science, juxtaposed with imaginary Marya’s living for her daughter and taking much longer to find fulfilment in science, and in not as incredibly as Marie.

I came to this novel without, I’m embarrassed to admit, a good understanding of Marie Curie’s personal life. I think that actually worked in my favour as I did not have preconceived notions of how Marie’s life should pan out, nor was I bothered by various liberties Cantor took with the truth. I appreciated the note at the end to explain briefly what was real and not.

Slow in parts, in the way that a Russian epic is slow. You need to work for it but it is worth it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for my honest review.