Half life A novel

In the film Sliding Doors, a woman's life branches into two very different paths based on one simple event: in one time line she slides through a closing door just in time to catch her train home; in the other, she misses the train. In Cantor's latest historical tale, following In Another Time (2019), Marya Skłodowska/Marie Curie receives the same treatment. In one iteration, Marie takes a train to Paris, enrolling at the Sorbonne; in another, she stays on the platform in Poland, accepting the marriage proposal of Kazimierz Żorawski. In Paris, Marie Curie pursues her education, discovers radium, wins Nobel prizes with and without her husband and soulmate, Pierre Curie. In Poland, Marya Żorawska is denied education, poor to the point of hunger, and mired in an unfulfilling marriage, yet she still finds ways to pursue knowledge, for herself and other women. Told in alternating chapters, each life has tragedies and triumphs, moments of beauty and regret. Cantor has created an absorbing biographical novel and performed an engaging riff on the "what if" ponderings we all experience.

Cantor (In Another Time) deconstructs the life of Nobel Prize--winning scientist Marie Curie with a fascinating premise: what if Maria Skolodowska had never left Poland in 1891 to go to Paris and reinvent herself as Marie Curie? The novel begins with Marie, 66 and dying, wondering what would have happened if she had married mathematician Kazimierz Zorawski. Alternating narratives explore parallel realities of two fiercely independent women. Marya Zorawski's world is dominated by domesticity and a Russian culture that denies women the right to an education. In the world of Marie Curie, her failed engagement to Kazimierz propels her to Paris, where she marries Pierre and has a "phosphorescent" public life. Occasional crossovers underscore how both versions of Maria are dedicated to work, love, and family. Cantor's vivid historic background features the first Tour de France and Marie's mobile X-ray units on the WWI front, and her fundraising visit to the U.S. adds enriching historical details. Strong secondary characters contribute to the lively story lines. Fans of Kate Atkinson's Time After Time will want to take a look. Agent: Jessica Regel, Foundry Media, LLC. (Mar.)

Reality and speculation merge to provide a look at Marie Curie, Nobel Prize--winning scientist, and the person she might have become if she'd made different choices. Curie was born as Marya Sklodowska in Poland in 1867. Motherless at 10, raised by her father to yearn for education, she struggled under poverty and politics to reach for her dreams. A difficult choice leads her to Paris, where she attends the Sorbonne. She meets Pierre Curie, her husband and lab partner, the love of her life, second only to her experiments on radium, the new element she discovers. Cantor renders her story beautifully, creating a rich historical fiction that brings Curie to life by seamlessly inventing thoughts and desires to flesh out a character known mostly for her obsession with science. To read this wonderfully executed tale alone would be satisfying, but we are also treated to an imaginative thread of what might have happened had Marie remained in Poland as Marya and married Kazimierz Zorawski, the man who'd asked for her hand despite the certainty of being disowned by his wealthy family for it. The novel alternates between the parallel stories of Marie and Marya, following a determined theme: You always have a choice. Clearly these choices determine life's outcome for the choice-maker as well as for all those who rub elbows with her. Feeling guilt over one's decisions and thinking about lost possibilities factor into Cantor's theme, as does judging other people's choices. Assessing Marie Curie's actual life and the imagined one leads to a difficult question: Was one life better than the other, happier, more meaningful? Thought-provoking, skillfully written, and hard to put down. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.