Since the hit film Oppenheimer was released, many more books have been written about the secret Los Alamos project during WWII. Some focus on Robert Oppenheimer, the project leader himself — his thoughts, style, and personality. Others home in on the scientists’ specific fields of expertise and how they each contributed to the making of the whole. Others still depict the scientists’ relationships with each other and with Oppenheimer.
This work of historical fiction about life in Los Alamos in 1943 is different. It describes how the women who lived in the US Army scientific-research retreat managed their peculiar circumstances. The daily lives of the wives, spouses of male scientists of various backgrounds and nationalities, were dominated by geographical, emotional, and intellectual isolation. Names of the residents were not uttered publicly. The work they did was not to be discussed, even among themselves. Entry and exit to this base was rare, and allowed only with preapproval.
All the scientists knew about the device they were creating was that it was called “the gadget.” Oppenheimer and few others were the only ones who knew what the end product would be and do. The top government brass directed the project to be powerful and succeed — but exactly how dangerous it would be was still unknown.
Those connected to “the project” were patriotic, aware that they were helping the US tremendously with the war effort and that time was of the essence. The men were on call at all hours, and wives and children were left to cope among themselves. Boredom was rampant, as was drinking; Oppenheimer himself was known for mixing cocktails. There was little privacy in this enclosed community. Conversations between men and their families were so restricted that it deeply hurt marriages and family dynamics. The climate was so harsh that even growing a victory garden was challenging, and residents made do with less.
The plot revolves around upscale young couple Christine and Thomas Sharp. After Thomas is tapped to work on this exciting project, Christine reluctantly sets her art-restoration career aside. She later connects in business with Maria, a talented Native American potter who lives in a village nearby. Other major characters include Sarah and Kurt, two Holocaust survivors who move from Boston to the desert with their teenage daughter, Gertie. Scientist Kurt buries himself completely in his work, while Sarah fears the frightening European news reports that come in each day and obsesses about the fate of her family. Gertie is self-involved, making friends and adjusting to her small new world. Kurt’s assistant, Jimmy, is a good, serious, hard-working man who admires Kurt greatly. Writing so intimately about these characters allows the author to describe what certain individuals believed about their personal purpose and responsibilities within this unusual community.
Love, duty, and morality are all important issues in this book. Readers may feel a sense of doom and frustration, aware eighty-odd years later of the devastating results of the project. The story remains relevant today as the military industry advances the materials used in our world’s ongoing wars.
Miriam Bradman Abrahams, mom, grandmom, avid reader, sometime writer, born in Havana, raised in Brooklyn, residing in Long Beach on Long Island. Longtime former One Region One Book chair and JBC liaison for Nassau Hadassah, currently presenting Incident at San Miguel with author AJ Sidransky who wrote the historical fiction based on her Cuban Jewish refugee family’s experiences during the revolution. Fluent in Spanish and Hebrew, certified hatha yoga instructor.
