“The Atomic City Girls is a fascinating and compelling novel about a little-known piece of WWII history.”—Maggie Leffler, international bestselling author of The Secrets of Flight
In the bestselling tradition of Hidden Figures and The Wives of Los Alamos, comes this riveting novel of the everyday people who worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II.
In November 1944, eighteen-year-old … the Manhattan Project during World War II.
In November 1944, eighteen-year-old June Walker boards an unmarked bus, destined for a city that doesn’t officially exist. Oak Ridge, Tennessee has sprung up in a matter of months—a town of trailers and segregated houses, 24-hour cafeterias, and constant security checks. There, June joins hundreds of other young girls operating massive machines whose purpose is never explained. They know they are helping to win the war, but must ask no questions and reveal nothing to outsiders.
The girls spend their evenings socializing and flirting with soldiers, scientists, and workmen at dances and movies, bowling alleys and canteens. June longs to know more about their top-secret assignment and begins an affair with Sam Cantor, the young Jewish physicist from New York who oversees the lab where she works and understands the end goal only too well, while her beautiful roommate Cici is on her own mission: to find a wealthy husband and escape her sharecropper roots. Across town, African-American construction worker Joe Brewer knows nothing of the government’s plans, only that his new job pays enough to make it worth leaving his family behind, at least for now. But a breach in security will intertwine his fate with June’s search for answers.
When the bombing of Hiroshima brings the truth about Oak Ridge into devastating focus, June must confront her ideals about loyalty, patriotism, and war itself.
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This book really immerses the reader in a unique place and subject. The characters come to life and the setting seems so real. I learned a lot about this time in history.
This book has an interesting premise. I knew nothing about Oak Ridge prior to this book – that it even existed or helped the effort towards building a nuclear bomb. So I was intrigued by that aspect, but the book was lacking in some ways. The plot points mentioned on the back of the book don’t even begin until around page 150, the characters are kind of flat, and the relationship between the characters is tenuous. This big moment towards the end of the book that connects them all together isn’t as dramatic as I expected it to be, and the book ends almost suddenly. Sam Cantor is a main character in the book, but there’s no real issue about him being Jewish as I expected there would be for this time period. I did appreciate the epilogue, it was written as if they were real people. The book did a great job about teaching you about that period, what living and working in Oak Ridge was like, and how everything was kept so secret. So for that aspect, I recommend it. On the character side, it could have been a much better book. *Received through a giveaway run by Goodreads, opinions are my own*
Fascinating historical period piece.
Very interesting period in US history. I had no idea this was such a large complex with people actually living there. The characters were interesting.
History told in a good story
Another perspective on a difficult time.
I like the history that it covered which was very informative. I already knew a lot of this history since I live next door to the Hanford Project that was part of the Manhattan Project. I felt that is was not so well written, though. I actually found it boring. The characters lives just droned along.
It is certainly interesting to read of the overnight cities that arose in response to the war effort.
Poor character development
Some parts of this book were unbelievable in regards to relationships, but this was also 70 years ago and very difficult times. I was unaware of what went into building and testing the bomb. Quite informative.
The characters were well depicted. I enjoyed the mix of history with an interesting personal story. I had gotten a view of what life was like for the workers. At the end I was happy about the epilogue as it completed things for me.
Historical fiction is my favorite genre, and this is one of the best. Well crafted characters and an original plot are used to tell the story of how civilians from all geographic areas, races & classes sacrificed to help America win the race to the atomic bomb. It also presented possible scenarios as to how it also changed their lives. Pictures from the archives were icing on the cake. Wish I could give it six stars!
Fabulous!!
I really enjoyed reading about this part of history as my mother was one of the Atomic City Girls.
Part of our history. We should all read this wonderful story!
This book gave a wonderful depiction of a time long gone when the US was united against a common enemy, the Axis powers in World Was 2. It was a fascinating introduction to the very early days of working with nuclear materials & how little was known at the time. It recreated the US during World War 2, in all of its accepted “ways of doing things”. The lack of sophistication & education of the characters, along with the segregation that was so easily accepted. We see the struggle still going on today. If for no other reason, that’s a reason to read the book & learn from it.
An interesting story based on a real-life place: the secret city: Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
The book over all was pretty good, it kept my attention. However, I feel like there was almost 300 pages spent in character development and only 30 pages of the actual plot. But I did enjoy the fact that it was set close to where I live so I felt connected to the people even though it happened so many years ago.
This book contained a lot of buildup, but ultimately led to nothing. The last few pages of the book contained the most conflict, but was still unsatisfying. I kept pushing through, thinking that it would all eventually come together and I finished the book still waiting for that feeling. It was hard to connect with any of the characters and some seemed completely unnecessary. The epilogue felt thrown together just to answer questions, but with no real emotion to it. Not a book I would recommend to others.
It’s clear that Janet Beard did her homework; the research is impeccable. What I enjoyed most about this work of fiction is that in her storyline, the author takes a close look at gender and racial inequality based on actual events.