Monday, August 23, 2010

A Fierce Radiance


This month I have been busy with school, getting ready for school, and finishing up the end-of-summer errands -all which have been very time consuming. My reading totals don't look so great this month, yet the books I have read have been very good-hard to put down.

This past weekend I read A Fierce Radiance by Lauren Belfer and will be talking and thinking about it for some time. Set during World War II, Claire Shipley is a photographer for Life magazine. Her ex-husband is the famous war correspondent, Bill Shipley. While married the couple had two children together: Charlie, and Emily who died of blood poisoning when she was three. Claire is sent to do a story on the promising new development of an antibiotic that could prevent such needless deaths. While there she becomes acquainted with James Stanton, one of the doctors and his sister, Tia Stanton. As the story unfolds so does a love story between James and Claire, as they try to weather the many challenges set upon them during this turbulent time in history.

It was amazing to me to realize that prior to World War II, penicillin did not exist. Belfer has created an amazing drama around the discovery of this drug as companies and individuals fight over who will get the profits from this life changing discovery. I loved every word of this book. I love the 1940s and the way Belfer was able to create a story centered around events of this time period - with the invention of penicillin, but also by developing a character who reported actual events that occured and were featured in Life magazine. I am famous for reading quickly, not always taking time to savor each and every word, yet with this book I did read carefully, not wanting to miss anything. This book was absolutely fabulous!

4 comments:

Meg @ write meg! said...

This sounds fabulous -- I love books set during World War II, and the love story really interests me! I hadn't heard of this one, but I'm definitely adding it to my wishlist. Thanks for sharing it with us!

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

This does sound good. I am about due for a historical novel.

Kathy (mommysreading) said...

I am going to have to find this book. I also love WWII era stories, and I am in a HUGE need of a great book that I can't put down.

Thank you for the heads up.

Anna said...

I've heard a lot of good things about this book, and I hope to read it at some point myself. I'll link to your review on War Through the Generations.