This novel explores the life of Marie Curie, including her marriage, her daughters, and her groundbreaking scientific work, while placing particular emphasis on her personal relationships. Having recently read Radium Girls, I was excited to pick up a fictionalized account of Marie Curie’s life while I was still immersed in that historical moment. While radium and Curie’s scientific contributions are certainly part of the narrative, the story focuses more heavily on her relationship with a fellow (and married) physicist and the public scrutiny she faced once that relationship became known.

Although this wasn’t quite what I was expecting, the book did spark an interest in learning more through nonfiction accounts of Curie’s life. Readers who enjoy historical fiction centered on personal relationships and social context will likely find much to appreciate here, particularly if they go in knowing the emphasis is mostly on interpersonal relationships and social issues.

A novel about my favourite scientist, the intriguing Marie Curie. The scientist first, the lover, the mother, the discrimination against her in a man’s world but in no way stopping her passion for her work. And the terrible price she paid. She could not have known how incredible the legacy was that she was leaving the world and especially young women, and indeed all women who sometimes still struggle to succeed in male-dominated work places. There is no better role model than Marie Curie for our daughters and here is a thoughtful novel that may introduce them to her. Thankyou to the author, publisher and NeGalley for a digital ARC.

This is a very interesting overview of Marie Curie's life, focusing more on her as a woman and her relationships and the roles she played - wife, mother, scientist. She also faced a lot of scrutiny due to her relationship with a married man.
This was lacking a little bit in terms of a hook, but I'm glad I read it and learned more about Marie Curie as a person.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.

What an interesting woman Marie Curie was. This novel made me want to learn more about her both as a person and as a scientist. It was a nice novelisation of her life, and I liked to mix of format between flowing text and letters. Made the pacing nice.

In Luminous Bodies, Devon Jersild delivers a psychologically rich and "alchemic" reimagining of the life of Marie Curie. Moving beyond the sterile image of the legendary scientist, Jersild—a clinical psychologist—delves into Curie’s emotional core, from her Polish childhood to the battlefields of WWI. The narrative shines brightest when exploring Curie’s vulnerability: her grief following Pierre’s death and her scandalous affair with Paul Langevin. By highlighting her friendship with suffragist Hertha Ayrton, Jersild illustrates how Curie survived a pitiless patriarchy. It is a stirring, intimate portrait of a woman who was truly more than the sum of her scientific parts.