The Physicists' Daughter: A Novel

Mary Anna Evans

Jun 2022 · Sourcebooks, Inc.

About this ebook

Perfect for fans of The Alice Network and Kate Quinn, The Physicists' Daughter is "a fascinating and intelligent WWII home front story." —Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook.

No one can be trusted. The fate of a country is at stake. And everything depends on the physicists' daughter.

New Orleans, 1944.

Sabotage. That's the word on factory worker Justine Byrne's mind as she is repeatedly called to weld machine parts that keep failing with no clear cause. Could someone inside the secretive Carbon Division be deliberately undermining the factory's Allied war efforts?

Raised by her late parents to think logically, she also can't help wondering just what the oddly shaped carbon gadgets she assembles day after day have to do with the boats the factory builds. When a crane inexplicably crashes to the factory floor, leaving a woman dead, Justine can no longer ignore her nagging fear that German spies are at work within the building, trying to put the factory and its workers out of commission.

Unable to trust anyone—not the charming men vying for her attention, not her unpleasant boss, and not even the women who work beside her—Justine draws on the legacy of her unconventional upbringing to keep her division running and protect her coworkers, her country, and herself from a war that is suddenly very close to home.

Ratings and reviews

1944, historical-fiction, historical-places-events, historical-research, Louisiana, sabotage, suspense, suspicion, misogynistic-era, mystery, thriller, stalking, family-dynamics, friendship***** Totally believable atmospheric with very engaging characters. Justine may be anachronistic in her time, but so were her mother and godmother. Justine's finest trait? Her willingness/compulsion to teach her interested friend with no high school education all about the arcane things about RADAR and radios. Same friend (while pointing out serious educational disparities) helps her with nuanced interpersonal skills. When do "accidents" become sabotage and "poor workmanship" become something sinister when it keeps happening in a war manufacturing plant? Is it really paranoia if someone is actually stalking you? I found the story and the writing riveting and insightful. Loved it! I requested and received a free e-book copy from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

About the author

Mary Anna Evans is the author of the Faye Longchamp archaeological mysteries, which have received recognition including the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Mississippi Author Award, and three Florida Book Awards bronze medals. She is an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma, where she teaches fiction and nonfiction writing. Winner of the 2018 Sisters in Crime (SinC) Academic Research Grant