In the tradition of The Paris Wife and Mrs. Poe, The Other Einstein offers us a window into a brilliant, fascinating woman whose light was lost in Einstein’s enormous shadow. It is the story of Einstein’s wife, a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose contribution to the special theory of relativity is hotly debated and may have been inspired by her own profound and very personal insight.
… and very personal insight.
Mitza Maric has always been a little different from other girls. Most twenty-year-olds are wives by now, not studying physics at an elite Zurich university with only male students trying to outdo her clever calculations. But Mitza is smart enough to know that, for her, math is an easier path than marriage. And then fellow student Albert Einstein takes an interest in her, and the world turns sideways. Theirs becomes a partnership of the mind and of the heart, but there might not be room for more than one genius in a marriage.
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I have always loved historical fiction, and biographical historical fiction. This is the story of Albert Einstein’s first wife and her relationship with Albert. What starts out as a beautiful love story about a young woman physicist and her classmate evolves into the truth about how women in the late 1800s and early 1900s, no matter how brilliant, become subservient and almost nonexistent to their husbands. As the author points out in her ending comments scientists are conflicted as to how much Mitza Einstein actually contributed to the theory of relativity. In the Einstein papers on file at Princeton University there is evidence of their collaboration as scientists. But weather the theory of relativity published in 1905, and the subject of Einstein’s first Nobel Prize, was truly his wife’s theory rather than his, is still unknown. The author has chosen for the purpose of this fictional story based on fact to portray it as her discovery. This is an important work dealing with how educated women were treated during this period of history. It includes the contrast between the way Madame Curie and her husband interactive, with her husband supporting all her work and supporting her nomination for the Nobel prize and that of the Einsteins.
I belong to a Women’s Book Club. Every month we meet [except for December when there is the Winter Solstice dinner] to discuss books written by women authors.
The November 2018 read was this book – The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict. It is the fictionalized story of Mitza Maric – Albert Einstein’s first wife. Although it is a wee bit over 300 pages long, I found it to be a quick read [I read it in one evening].
Although it is supposed to be a work of fiction, most of the events actually occurred in Mitza and Albert’ life. For me, the ‘fictionalize’ part would be the conversations between the characters. Unless one writes down conversations for posterity [like James Joyce used to do – putting whole dinner conversations into his works] it is almost impossible to know what dialogue was engaged in by people.
Mitza Maric was a brilliant woman. By the time I finished the book I was firmly convinced that Albert never would have been able to achieve what he achieved in the scientific world without her brilliance and her knowledge of aspects of science that were beyond him. In fact, there are letters written by male colleagues of both Einstein’s discussing how Albert shafted her by publishing papers without her name as co-author.
And tern there is that infamous demand letter, which blessedly she rejected and which led to their divorce and his marrying his cousin.
She was a brilliant woman, and totally deserves her place in the scientific community. It is my hope that others will take the time to read this book and that it will inspire and enrich their lives, like it has mine.
I have seriously mixed feelings about this book. While I appreciate books that highlight the women behind history’s most important men (I adored The Paris Wife: A Novel), I found this one a little difficult to stomach.
I don’t know that much about Einstein as a person (as opposed to a scientist), but some of the words Benedict puts in his mouth seemed like a little much. It’s entirely possible (and likely) that Marić fell into her husband’s large shadow when they were married and after they had children, but some of the purely evil acts he commits against her in the book took the fictionalization of this couple’s story a little too far, in my opinion.
I can understand that Benedict is taking creative license here, but I really didn’t enjoy reading about the hateful man Einstein was by the end of her story.
Just remember that behind every great man is a great woman. And. ………I’m a man, but I can change, if I have to.
Where to begin? I was intrigued and fascinated with this book. This book made me think of Albert Einstein in a different light, as a real human male with all of the possible human failings. Intelligence does not determine personality and mental health. The story is spun so that you are left thinking, “What if?” If not about your own life and what “could have been” but about what could have been with regards to Mitza and Albert. I was so connected to Mitza. I related to her character. This book caused me to want to read more books written by the author.
An insightful view into the courtship, marriage, and world of Albert Einstein and his first wife Mileva Maric. Whether the story is more historic than fictional or vice versa wasn’t an issue for me as it served as a reminder that one never knows what goes on in another person’s marriage behind closed doors. I look forward to reading more Marie Benedict titles.
I really wanted to love this book – as a woman with a degree in physics, I’m always on the lookout for books that bring women in the discipline to the forefront. The Theory of Relativity was also a significant part of my research in college, so it seemed this story about Einstein and his wife was written just for me. Sadly, I was deeply disappointed in this book. The way Mitza was portrayed, both as an individual and a scientist, felt disingenuous, and there seemed to be very little understanding on the part of the author of the underlying scientific theories and how they were developed, making it hard for me to validate and believe the dark picture of Einstein Benedict painted. If you’re looking for stories of strong women in science, I’d recommend Hidden Figures or Lab Girl. If you’re curious about relativity in fiction, I’d recommend Einstein’s Dreams!
There is not much known about Mileva Maric, Albert Einstein’s first wife other than she was a brilliant scientist and mathmatician. She attended the Polytechnic in Zurich at a time when very few woman were admitted to such a prestigious school. Here is where her life goes of track. She meets Albert Einstein and enjoys a true intellectual connection like nothing she has know. They fall in love, research and write papers together. After this brief period of amazing collaboration Albert Einstein begins to draw away from this remarkable woman leaving her hurt and confused and stuck in a confines of a life during a period in time that shows little regard for intellectual woman. Women sacrificed much to be taken seriously with the help of the men in their lives and sadly Mileva’s husband was not such a man.
Mitza Maric has always reached higher than most females in her sphere. Gifted with an extremely high intelligence, her path has been wrought with awkwardness and rejection from her peers.
Her brilliant mind captures Albert Einstein’s attention. Their romance is idyllic in the beginning. However, narcissisms rises to the surface eclipsing all that is good and innocent.
I loved Mitz’s search for God’s fingerprint in science. Her story is tragic and thought provoking.
Recommend to readers who enjoy stories with strong, intelligent females.
I borrowed a copy from my local library. All views expressed are my honest opinion.
Spoiler Alert: This is a well-crafted and well written book that will drag the reader, kicking and screaming, through an unpleasant relationship. I enjoyed the courtship and the scientific collaboration in the early relationship between Albert and Mitza. However, my opinion changed with the rapid increase of Albert’s ego. At this point in the novel, I started feeling angry toward the characters. Would Mitza continue a relationship with a man who consistently disrespected her during the early-mid 1900’s? And would she continue the relationship if the events happened in 2021? Perhaps, this question and my answers inspire my strong opinions. I think this book would stimulate a robust discussion among a women’s group.
My first book by this author and not my last. I highly recommend this very well written historical fiction book!
An amazing story about an amazing woman and how she deserves the credit her husband claimed. Real insights into the times when women were totally disregarded and the ego of a great scientist who couldn’t share the accomplishments of his wife and partner.
THE OTHER EINSTEIN by Marie Benedict is a historical fiction story told by Mileva Maric Einstien, the first wife of the famous physicist Albert Einstein. I was completely captivated by the characters and the in-depth depiction of their lives.
Mileva “Mitza” Maric was one of the first females to study Physics at the Zurich Polytechnic university in 1896 which is where she met a classmate by the name of Albert Einstein. To be admitted to study at university, she had to be a scientific genius in her own right and even more talented than her male counterparts. She had several strikes against her though; the times she lived in, being a female, a physical disability, and being an Eastern European from Serbia.
Mileva’s life with Albert starts out with the promise of a bohemian life of scientific study and companionship, but cultural forces and a husband who enjoys and wants the limelight and fame for himself begin to destroy their marriage.
Ms. Benedict pulls together historical letters between the couple and family and friends accounts to prove Mileva’s contributions to Einstein’s famous papers and theories while they were married. I found this story so intriguing and I was looking up as many factual sites as I could while I was reading this fictional rendition to see how much is factual and how much is a supposition. The encounter in the book between Mileva and Marie Curie is fascinating as they discuss and compare their choices in their professional and personal lives.
I highly recommend this historical fiction story of a brilliant woman overshadowed by her famous husband!
An intriguing story based on many of the suppositions of the first Mrs. Einstein and what her involvement with Albert was in his theories of relativity. It is an unfavorable picture of the well-known and respected physicist. It is the truth she was a student at the Zurich poly-technic the only woman in the class. And she gave up her studies after she had children.
Historical fiction that gives the reader a different perspective on Albert Einstein and everything attributed to him.
The Other Einstein is a specific breed of book it’s… different in a good way and may make the audience quiet skeptical of Einstein, not only from a scientist perspective but as a father and husband.
Thanks to NetGalley and to Sourcebooks Landmark for offering me an ARC copy of the book.
We’ve all heard the saying: ‘Behind every great man there’s a great woman’ in its many different versions. It’s true that for centuries men (or many men of the wealthy classes with access to education) could dedicate themselves to artistic, scientific or business pursuits because the everyday things were taken care of by their wives or other women in their lives (mothers, relatives, partners…) As Virginia Wolf wrote in ‘A Room of One’s Own’ women had a harder time of it, as they were expected to take care of the house, family, and ensure that their husbands came back to a place where they would be looked after and tended too. Unless women were independently wealthy and could count on the support (financial, emotional and practical) of the men in their lives, it was very hard, if not impossible, to pursue a career in the arts or the sciences.
Mary Benedict’s book explores the life of Mitza Maric, who would later become Einstein’s first wife, from the time of her arrival in Zurich (as one of only a few female students at the university) to the time when she separates from her husband. Maric is an intriguing figure (and I must admit I hadn’t read anything about her before) and an inspiring one, as she had to go against the odds (being a woman at a time were very few women could study at university, suffering from hip dysplasia, that left her with a limp and difficulty in undertaking certain physical tasks) and managed to study and be respected for her knowledge of Physics and Maths.
The book is written in the first person, and we get a close look at Maric´s thoughts, emotions and doubts. The early part of the book is a very good read, with descriptions of the social mores of the era, Mitza’s family, the development of her friendship with the other female students at the lodgings, the intellectual atmosphere and café society of that historical period, and of course, Mr Einstein, whom he meets at University. Mitza believed (like her parents) that due to her physical disability she would never marry, and lived resigned to the idea, having decided to dedicate her life to her research, studies and the academic life she craved. And then… Einstein arrives.
The Einstein depicted by the book is a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde character. He’s friendly, humorous and charming, and also, of course, a brilliant scientist, but can be selfish, egotistical and cares nothing for anybody who is not himself. We see more of the first Einstein at the beginning of the relationship, through their interaction, walks, scientific discussions… Einstein opens the world for Mitza, and if she had been enjoying the company of the other girls, she later neglects them for the world of scientific discussion among men, where she gains entry thanks to Einstein.
When, after much hesitation, Mitza decides to visit Einstein and spend a few days with him in Lake Como, the two of them alone, the book becomes more melodramatic and things start going very wrong. Mitza gets pregnant, Einstein keeps making excuses not to get married yet, and resentment sets in. If I mentioned that Einstein is a Jekyll and Hyde character, Mitza, who was always shy but determined and stubborn, also changes; she becomes sad, hesitant, and she seems unable to follow her own path. In the book, there is much internal discussion and debate, as on the one hand she does not like Einstein’s behaviour, but on the other, she tries to see things from her mother’s point of view and do what’s right for the child.
As some reviewers have noted (and the writer acknowledges in her notes at the back of the book), it’s a fact that they had a daughter out of wedlock, but it’s not clear what happened to her, and that makes the later part of the book, at least for me, stand on shakier grounds. That is always a difficulty with historical fiction, whereby to flesh out the story authors must make decisions, interpreting events and sometimes filling in gaps. In some cases, this is more successful than others, and it might also depend on the reader and their ability to suspend disbelief.
The author comes up with an explanation for the possible origin of the theory of relativity, closely linked to Mitza’s faith (and I know there have been debate as to how much Einstein’s wife contributed to it, and she definitely did contribute, although most likely not as much as is suggested in the book) that hinges around a dramatic event affecting their daughter, the problem being (from a historical point of view) that there’s no evidence it ever took place. That event, as depicted in the text, has a major impact in later parts of the novel and seems to underline all of the later difficulties the couple has, although Einstein’s behaviour, his reluctance to include his wife’s name in any of the articles or patents, the time he spends away, and his infidelities don’t help.
I found it difficult to reconcile the woman of the beginning of the book with the beaten down character of the later part of the book, although there are some brief flashes of her former self, like when she converses with Marie Curie. Although there is much self-justification for her continuing to live with Einstein given the circumstances (she is doing it for the children, she still hopes he will seek her ideas and collaboration and they’ll end up working together), one wonders how the strong and determined woman of the beginning can end up tolerating such a frustrating life (especially once Albert becomes well known and their financial difficulties end). There is also no evidence that she sought to rekindle her career once she was no longer with Einstein, and one can’t help but wonder if perhaps their relationship, at least early on, was also a source of inspiration for her too.
I enjoyed getting to know a bit more about Mitza Maric, and in particular about the era and the difficulties women had to face then, although I would have preferred to be more aware of where the facts ended and author creativity started whilst reading the book, as I was never sure if some of the inconsistencies within the characters were due to their own experiences and circumstances, or to the reimagining of some parts of the story, that perhaps ends up transforming it into a more typical narrative of the woman whose ambitions and future die due to marriage, children and a less than enlightened husband. (It reminded me at times of Revolution Road, although in this instance both of the characters are talented, whilst there…) The author provides sources for further reading and research at the end that will prove invaluable to those interested in digging further.
In sum this book highlights the figure of a woman worth knowing better; it can work as the starting point for further research and fascinating discussions, and it is eminently readable. People looking for specific scientific information or accurate personal facts might need to consult other books as this is definitely a fictionalisation.
I really enjoyed this book.
The problem with this book is that it isn’t factual. If a writer chooses to write about real historical figures there is is obligation to portray them as they really were. This is not the case here.
I find it incredibly challenging to rate this book, because I can’t determine whether my judgment is being clouded by the fact that this book made me feel so very angry. Compounding that is my first impression of this author, when I read “Carnegie’s Maid”, which was not terribly favorable.
What I liked about “The Other Einstein”:
Mileva was an actual person – One major point in this book’s favor is that the main character was a person who actually existed, unlike the main character of “Carnegie’s Maid”, which was one of my biggest beefs with that novel. When the events and peripheral characters of a book are all real, having a main character who is entirely fictitious is unappealing to me. Knowing that Mileva Maric truly existed and we were merely filling in the unknown blanks of her life immediately upped my interest.
Mitza’s feelings – I enjoyed the play between her intellect and her emotional state. Her emotions were always quite believable, and I often found myself sympathetic to her.
Science not to the exclusion of God – As a person of Christian faith, it frequently troubles me that the two are often shown to be mutually exclusive. I appreciated that Mitza’s scientific curiosity was founded in her desire to unravel the mysteries of God. It is possible to believe both exist in complement to one another.
The friendships – Mitza’s interactions with Helene and with Marie Curie were a delightful example of the encouragement true friends offer one another.
What I didn’t care for:
Editing failures in the Kindle version – This just grates on my nerves. Does no one proofread books when they are moved from print to digital format?
Lack of resolution – How is there never any explanation of what happened with Ruzica and Milana?
Dollie and Johnnie – Yes, I retained the information that these were Mitza’s and Albert’s nicknames for one another. All the addressing each other as such multiple times in the same conversation became cumbersome. Who uses the other person’s name that much?
As a person whose strong suits are very much not math and science, I spent much of this book feeling like I was part of a 19th century incarnation of the television show “The Big Bang Theory”, and I was Penny. So much of the science leaned on the side of “not layperson-friendly,” which left me with the options of Googling every other chapter or remaining clueless, at least until we got to a section that focused more on the emotional aspects. At one point, Mitza informs Albert that he is brilliant in everything but matters of the heart. This assessment was, truthfully, accurate about Mitza as well. However, it seems to ever be only Mitza who suffers for both their failings in this realm. My biggest takeaway is that I will never look at Albert Einstein the same way again: his cruelty, his nearly sociopathic selfishness, his outright theft of Mitza’s theory and her work on multiple occasions, his demeaning of her, his lies and betrayals, his dismissals and manipulation and trail of broken promises, and most certainly everything regarding poor Lieserl. And that was before he presented her with That Contract. I nearly seethed with fury. On a positive note, I did come away with a greater appreciation for how much I get to take for granted as a woman that Mitza and her peers could not, but even that made me angry. I’m not sure it’s possible for me to give a book that leaves me feeling so frustrated anything higher than three stars.