Wow! I loved this book!
Charlie Fish is an amazing character. And his heart is as big as Alaska! Now, Brenda, I was not a big fan of. She had some selfish streaks. But, I did love their relationship.
I also enjoyed how the author showed to the reader how someone who made the A-bomb could feel. It is complex and the author really expanded on these concepts.
Great historical fiction not to be missed!

I loved reading this. The book is loosely based on the real life of Charlie Fish, who was involved in the Manhattan Project. What a story that will stay with me for a long time. Fantastic job, well researched, and just a joy to read.

5 stars

I really wanted to like this book. I had had it in my hands when it first was coming out and it sounded fantastic. I think the problem is I was having trouble getting invested in the female love interest. She seemed very whiny and upset with her lot, but didn't really try to make positive changes in her life. She was letting her mother rule her life and how she did things. I understand in the 1940's parental and child relationships were much different than they are now to some extent. However, as an adult, I kind of hoped she would take some gumption and navigate her own life. I actually didn't finish this because of this character's depiction. She needed more development beyond her relationships and into her sense of self. Hopefully the next one is better. Thank you for the advanced copy.

Stephen Kiernan is a new author to me but I am so very glad I got to read his book.The story is based on an actual man Charles Brenton Fisk who served on the detonator team in Los Alamos, New Mexico. It is based on fact interwoven with fiction and makes a fantastic book. It is one that you don't want to put down, but you really do want to pick it up! Thanks Stephen for writing such a great book!

Amazing love story comes to life in this fantastic historical fiction story. Lovable characters keep you engaged and wanting see what’s going to happen next with this budding romance.

I thought I would love this book. The characters were great, it’s set in a time period I love. However, it was unfortunately terribly boring. No matter how often I tried, I just could not get into this book.

This is one of the best books I read this year!

Where do I even begin? Do I talk about the beautiful love story between Brenda and Charlie? Or the nuances of guilt Charlie faces when he realizes the consequences of his work? How about the various physics references that indulged my geeky side? There are so many reasons why I loved this book in so many levels.

I love this author and HAVE to read his previous books. The way he details the story-line makes you feel like you are right next to the characters. Moreover, I loved how he beautifully switches the tone between the two perspectives. Brenda is sassy and fun, and her story-line feels like you are reading a beautiful romance novel. Whereas, Charlie is an introverted genius, and if you read only his story-line, it would sound just like a war thriller. I just loved the contrast between the two, and how they blended beautifully towards the end. Moreover, the author also connects the character events to the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in a gripping manner.

I will not talk about Brenda and Charlie because it is obvious that I love them both. From their romantic first date at the movies to the way, they get married, watching these two was just mesmerizing. However, I have to mention my love for Lizzie and Brenda’s mother. These two appear at times in the story, but they just light up the pages. Lizzie is hilarious and made me laugh out loud with her push-ups. Similarly, I hated Mather and Beasley with a passion. I can go on, but I will stop now.

Overall, this book is the epitome of a historical romance. I loved this story and awaiting the movie adaptation once it comes out.

I loved reading this book. It tells the story of Charlie and Brenda. Charlie Fish is recruited by the Manhattan Project to build the denotator of the atomic bomb without knowing the ultimate use for his device. He also loves to play the oegan
Brenda works in her parents organ shop, and here's where they met.
The story interspersed their love story with the atomic building love story. Shows the emotional and psychological trauma of the people who worked at the project after after war.

Stephen Kiernan research is very accurate and his storytelling grabbed me since the beginning of the book.

This is a book that will stay with me for a long time.

I loved this beautiful post war romance that two people scared by war find love within themselves and to feel once more in a time some never made it home safely. Instantly loved these characters and loved their evolution together! Thank you NetGalley for my ARC copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Historical fiction about the genesis of the atomic bomb. This book does a great deal to humanize the scientists who created that tool of shock and awe. It is easy to imagine such people as cold-blooded scientists that never imagined the results of their work, or even worse, hot-blooded war-mongers. With this novel, Kiernan shows the ambivalence and toll such work took upon those that were tasked with creating such destruction, and what happened when it was set loose upon an unsuspecting world.

This is an excellent, excellent book. I just love Brenda and Charlie. From the moment they met, I was drawn to them. Theirs is a unique relationship. All of the characters are well rounded and real. I highly recommend this book! I reviewed this on Goodreads but can’t get the link.

4.5 stars
Universe of Two was a compelling and thought-provoking book with a love story at its heart. I knew very little about the making and planning for the atomic bomb and this story enlightened me in many ways.

I suppose when I learned about this in history class as a high school student, it never occurred to me to think of the men and women who created both the splitting of the atom and its big brother the atomic bomb. I never realized that math students were most wanted in helping to create the bomb without realizing what they were working on. This book puts you “in the room where it happened” (shout out to Hamilton) where engineers, physicists and mathematicians were working on something that they called the “gadget” and The Manhattan Project.

Henry Fisk, whose soldering abilities and study of arcs landed him in Santa Fe, was a real person who had a great responsibility during the war. Once he realized what he working on, he was riddled with guilt at the devastation he would be helping to create. Was it possible he’d be able to stop the war? Yes. Was it okay to bomb innocents that would lead to 120,000 deaths? No. This double edged dilemna affected him on many levels and the nickname “trigger” didn’t help much.

The romance Henry had with Brenda was both believable and relatable. The two of them showed immense growth both individually and singularly. The organ also played a huge role is their lives, which intrigued me as I don’t think I’ve ever heard a live organist. Who knew the complexity of it? Not me!

I highly recommend this for book clubs and all readers. There’s a lot to learn and a lot to ponder on as you read.

What does one do when they help work on something that destroys over 150,000 lives? Stephen P. Kiernan's 'The Universe of Two' delves into that by taking mathematician Charles B. Fisk who was 'drafted' in the Manhattan Project and making him Charlie Fish. When he starts the work, Charlie really has no idea of what is going on and just does as he is told. He starts to fall in love with Brenda and they explore Chicago as they learn about each other. Charlie's math becomes more integral to what the Manhattan Project needs and he goes to New Mexico. What happens in New Mexico and other parts of the world will forever haunt Charlie and Brenda. The impact will follow their lives as they decide what to do after WW II ends.

Not many books I have read have dual narrators AND each narrator is a different point of view (POV). Charlie is written in the third person while Brenda is written in the first person. As you read this makes sense as Brenda is telling us about the past and Charlie is her past. This also helps flesh out the characters and how you see them very well.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Universe of Two is a love story. As with many love stories, there is an antagonist. In this case, the antagonist is the nuclear arms race in WWII. It is loosely based on a real member of the Manhattan Project. Brenda, one of the main voices of the story, was a difficult character to like at times, but the fact that her adult self looked back and criticized her actions as a young woman made her quite likable. Charlie, our other main character, just had such a beautiful soul that made you want the best for him. I truly did not want this to end and, when it did, went down a rabbit hole of research about the characters and experiments during that time. Stephen Kiernan is a brilliant writer who delivered a beyond memorable novel.

This book was a little hard to keep picking up but I'm so glad I kept with it. The subject matter dealing with WW2 and the atomic bomb, though beautifully told was also so very sad. Charlie was a very sensitive soul and this one choice in his life stayed with him, making him choose and struggle with the direction of his and his loving wife's future. It really amazes me just how smart and driven Charlie was and it really made me wish things had played out differently. #NETGALLEY#UNIVERSEOFTWO

This book will be a definite purchase for me! Thank you so much for allowing me to have access to the digital arc!

I am always thrilled to promote writers that have participated in the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. Kiernan has built a reputation for writing novels set during various wars and has received much praise for his writing. I was eager to read his sixth book, set during WWII, but with a much different viewpoint than many other WWII books I’ve read.

Charlie Fish is a math whiz. He began working in Chicago on various math formulas for his uncle, mostly to avoid combat. While in Chicago, he wanders into an organ shop and falls head over heels for Brenda, the daughter of the organ shop owner. Her father and brother are off fighting the war and Brenda and her mom were left behind to run the shop.

Their romance blooms (mostly on Charlie’s end) amid the organ shop where Charlie likes to tinker with the organs and Brenda likes to play. Brenda isn’t quite sure about Charlie but thinks he is sweet, but not quite as exciting as the other soldiers roaming around Chicago. But, when Charlie is suddenly sent to New Mexico to begin work on a top-secret and sensitive project, the Manhattan Project, Brenda starts to realize that maybe Charlie Fish was just the kind of man she needed in her life.

Charlie is a sweet and innocent man who does as he is told and doesn’t ask a lot of questions. His character is based on the real man assigned to work on the atomic bomb. Kiernan read about this man and knew there was a novel brewing there. I really loved Charlie’s character. He was a good man who just wanted to please people whether it was his uncle, his new boss, or Brenda. He was a hard worker who didn’t stop until he got it done right. Unfortunately, he was also quite naive. He didn’t realize he was creating detonators for an atomic bomb until it was nearly time to test the final product. By then it was too late and Charlie would forever have to live with the results of detonating the atomic bomb. Even though Charlie was praised as a hero by many, he felt like a murderer.

I think the author hit on so many themes with this novel and showed readers a much different side to the war than anything I’ve ever read before. The story is told from Brenda’s perspective as an older woman looking back on her life with Charlie. You’ll find out why she is reminiscing at the end of the novel. It is quite obvious the author did extensive research on the Manhattan project as well as on organs. Plus, the fact that this story (with fictional liberties) is based on real people makes it even more fascinating.

The author paid a lot of attention to detail (maybe at times a bit too much) but I found much to love about this story including the relationships the author explored between Brenda and her mom, Brenda and Charlie, and Charlie and his fellow project mates. The descriptions of the city of Chicago, the bus ride from Chicago to New Mexico, and the dry hot air of Los Alamos made them jump off the pages into my mind as I read.

I found myself researching more about these infamous days in history as the atomic bombs were deployed and the ramifications afterward. My heart ached for Charlie in the novel and gave me a much different perspective on the men behind the bombs during WWII. Kiernan is a talented writer and I look forward to checking out his backlist of novels.

Universe of Two is the fictionalized story of one of the architects of the atomic bomb, Charlie Fish.. Charlie is a brilliant mathematician and also and adept engineer. He's given the task of building the detonator, not knowing the ultimate use for his devise. It's also a lovely story of music and love. He meets Brenda, a young women, working in her patent's organ shop and they fall slowly, deeply in love. After the war, Charlie is given the change to pursue a PhD at Stanford, while Brenda can study music. Wracked by guilt over his contribution to the bombe, they jointly decide to pursue a more peaceful life. This is a novel to savor and remember.

During WWII, Harvard graduate and mathematician Charlie Fish is tasked with creating the detonator for the atomic bomb, but once he realizes the true purpose of his invention, he's overcome with guilt. Will his sweetheart Brenda help him or hurt him during these trying times?

"We are all building the Gadget. And we will all be guilty of the crimes it commits."

I was so engrossed by this real and raw account of young love and didn't want to put it down. I'm not sure how the male author so accurately nailed Brenda's thoughts as a young woman, but wow, I was blown away. Additionally, I was utterly fascinated by the Manhattan Project and the top secret creation of the nuclear bomb. Math and science nerds will love the detailed accounts of the bomb's construction, while romance lovers will love the burgeoning relationship between Charlie and Brenda. Mostly, this story is about following your dreams wherever they may lead.

"It's like we're on an island... a universe of two."

Location: Chicago, IL and Santa Fe and Los Alamos, NM

I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Based loosely on the life of mathematician Charles B. Fisk, one of the men who worked on the atom bomb at Los Alamos. In 1943, Brenda falls in love with Charlie Fisk. Soon he leaves for Las Alamos. Brenda remains his steadfast love and when he discovers his talents have been put to use building weapon with power the world has never seen, he is devastated and it takes Brenda’s love to overcome the remorse he feels. A good story with lots of details about daily life in the US during World War II.