Mrs. Einstein

by Anna McGrail

Book Overview

But not to literature. Anna McGrail has imagined an amazing yet plausible life for this indomitable woman, one that spans the scientific history of the modern world from the theory of relativity to the atomic bomb and that moves from the plains of rural Hungary to the death camps of Germany to the laboratory at Los Alamos where the entire world was put under threat of annihilation. It is Lieserl's sole burning desire to learn physics, to beat her...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393046117
• ISBN13: 9780393046113
• Release Date: June 1998
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

It's Certainly Different

If you're in the right mood for it, this story will just pick you up and carry you along. It covers a whole century, several continents, an ever-changing cast of characters, and all takes place just at the edges of major historical events. It will give you a different view of the breakthroughs in physics over the past one hundred years, and also give you an idea of what it must be like to live a life in the grips of an obsession.I've never read anything that gives such an odd revisionist take on history written so well before - and the writing will certainly engage you.

Imaginative and thoughtful

An unusual book--reaching imaginative, emotional, and intellectual levels all at once. Perhaps it is only for readers who participate at all three levels--but those readers will find it original in all those ways.

Brilliant

An excellent read - I couldn't put it down. It is very subtle and very clever. I know I'll read it again.

Compelled to write after hearing from Santa Clara reader

I must rebut the comments of the reader from Santa Clara who called this book "boring & predictable" and "written very poorly." MRS. EINSTEIN is certainly one of the most compelling and unusual novels of the past several years. Missing it would be a great loss. The scientific discussions of gravity and light, of relativity, and of nuclear fission are expertly woven into the thematic fabric of the novel, spun delicately into the order/chaos images that flow through the book. This, my friends, is an epic, moving from turn-of-the century Hungary through WWI, the influenza of 1918, the rise of the Third Reich, WWII and finally to Los Alamos. How can that be "boring" even from the pen of the most pedestrian writer? Anna McGrail has not only created a convincing and heartbreaking character in Leiserl, the illegitimate daughter of Albert Einstein, but developed one of the most original and fascinating friendships between two women (between Leiserl and her one-time German teacher and life-long confidente, the amazing Maja) in all of contemporary fiction. A true discovery, both this gifted writer and her unforgettable piece of work.

Quantum and Relativity made Personal

Already in the UK, from where I review, this is a beautifully written, if challenging book. But its more your (America's) history than mine. (A similar treatment of Alan Turing would be welcome). For those not farmilliar with the astonishing events which led to the Bomb, its morality, its characters and the science, this will faithfully take you through that journey.For those already familiar it challenges the accepted historical record through believable construction. It was only on the thirdish reading (to check out if the allagories were consistent) that I became convinced that the principles of quantum and relativistic physics are embodied in the characters and their actions. If this was accidental it is good fortune, if meant its exceptional writing.It works as a story and as an alagory. Its unusual to come across a book where the ending is so right, yet so unexpected.I might have given it full marks, but the English cover is a bit too Yellowish.