Book blurb…
A brilliant sliding-doors reimagining of the passionate life of the first woman to win a Nobel Prize – and the life Marie Curie might have led if she had chosen love over science.

Poland, 1891. Marie Curie (then Marya Sklodowska) was engaged to a budding mathematician, Kazimierz Zorawski. But when his mother insisted Marya was not good enough, he broke off the engagement. A heartbroken Marya left Poland for Paris to study chemistry and physics at the Sorbonne. Marie would go on to change the course of science forever and become the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.

But what if Marie had made a different choice?

What if she had stayed in Poland, married Kazimierz, and never attended the Sorbonne or discovered radium? What if Marie had chosen her first love and a life of domesticity, still ravenous for knowledge in Russian Poland where education for women was restricted, instead of studying science in Paris and meeting Pierre Curie?

Seamlessly entwining the lives of Marya and Marie, Half Life is a powerful story of love and friendship, motherhood and sisterhood, fame and anonymity – and a woman destined to change the world.

My thoughts…
This story concept was clever but, sorry to say, it did not work for me. I have watched sliding doors movies and enjoyed them. Something was missing in this plot. Perhaps it was the characterisation. I did not form an emotional attachment to the characters or their plight.

I could not finish the book, but in all fairness my circumstances may have influenced my thoughts. I was reading whilst travelling during COVID and my opportunities to read were disjointed.

An interesting idea, to write parallel fictonal biographical stories of Marie Curie, the twice-winning Noble Prize winner; one of her as she might have been in her real life, and the other as if she took another path and instead of her impending marriage to mathematician Kazimierz Zorawski falling through, as apparently was the case for the real Marie Curie, the two did marry. In this alternative scenario, Marie becomes Marya (Marie Curie’s birth name). We follow her path as she stays in Poland, marries Kaz, chooses a life of domesticity and educates herself and other women behind closed doors. The real Marie Curie’s story interleaves with this as she leaves Poland, studies science in Paris, marrys Pierre Curie, wins the Nobel Prize, loses Pierre from radiation sickness, and in the end dies of it herself.

In the first few chapters I sometimes had to concentrate to work out which woman I was reading about, as many of the same names peopled their stories. But I became better at it, and enjoyed both stories and the questions they threw up about the sacrifices women made back then for education and career. There are no clear answers, of course. Choices as difficult as this have pros and cons on each side. It is up to the reader to decide which woman had a happier, more fulfulled life in the end. A well-written, thought-provoking novel.
Thankyou to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance digital review copy.

I found both the concept as well as the character intriguing, but the format of the story did not work well for me. The constant jumping between the “real” life and the alternative made the story feel disjointed and I often had to flick back to see which version of Marie was featuring in each chapter. In the end, I found that the story dragged and I struggled to connect to either version of Marie. I think the main issue for me was that I found either version of Marie lacking in the type of passion that would have fuelled the real Marie to defy the traditional role of womanhood at the time and excel in her scientific field, despite all obstacles that were thrown in her way. The book did, however, make me read up about the real Marie Curie, which I am grateful for.

Half Life by Julian Cantor is an exciting and heartbreaking tale of what may have happened if the choices that Marya Sklodowska that led her to become Marie Curie had been different.

The chapters alternate between Marie's life as we know it and Marya's life that could have been. I thought that this was a really interesting way to write the novel as we were able to read the parallel realities at the same time and compare the events that were occurring. The writing was really clear and evocative while still having an almost whimsical feel to it which made reading it very easy and engaging. I hadn't known much about Marie Curie's life before reading this book so it felt like I was reading a fictional novel during those chapters rather than just simply a recount of the basic knowledge of her life so the change in perspectives each chapter felt very natural and easy to follow.

One negative comment would be that the kindle formatting is not very good and the chapter headings are not clear so it took me a few chapters of confusion before I realised that every chapter was alternating between realities. I would suggest that this be looked at so the confusion isn't there.

4/5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and the author for this copy to review.

Such an imaginative way to present the life of Marie Curie, who is the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and goes onto to win 2! In the fields of Chemistry and Physics.
While the second "story" in Half Life by Jillian Cantor, follows the same timeline, but is based on Marya Sklodowska making a crucially different decision at a train station....one that takes her away from a future as Marie Curie and finds her bound by love to her native country of Poland and married to Kazimierz. She would never attended the Sorbonne or discover radium or marry Pierre Curie.

Which life is more fulfilling? A life with her first love, a life of poverty and domesticity, still hungry for knowledge..fighting for freedom to learn and freedom to teach in her beloved Poland.

Or studying science in Paris, meeting Pierre Curie and achieving the highest honours a woman could dream of in the world of science.

An historical fiction lesson for me.......horrifying to hear of Marie and Pierre's casually interacting with what we know are deadly radioactive elements.......

As the story moved forward, I found it harder to separate the 2 characters. The overlapping timeframes, world events and common characters almost exaggerates the tricks of fate and time of a crosscroads decision made in life. Possibilities, decisions we make and consequences that evolve cross many paths.

But the three sisters remain constant...Bronia, Hela and Marya. Love, support and sister, twin, motherly links carrying on through the ups and downs of life.

The ultimate girl power! The title intrigues me.....what does Jillian mean by it? Are Maria and Marya each living half a life? Or rather 2 whole lives, rewarding and creating milestones in their own way.

Thanks to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Australia and Jill Ian Cantor for this fascinating read.

Jillian Cantor's Half Life is partly inspired by the Gwyneth Paltrow movie Sliding Doors, where the central character has two very different life outcomes depending on whether she catches or misses a certain train home.

It's the "What if" question that haunts many of us. "What if we made a different choice, married someone different, took that job...." In the Paltrow movie, if she caught the train, she'd have found her husband in flagrante. If she missed it, she'd be none the wiser to his adultery and theoretically life would continue as usual.

Jillian Cantor's story is a much deeper and more interesting one than that though, because her central character is the double Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie, and one real life choice could have changed the course of scientific history.

It is a historical fact that Marie Curie (as she became) did not wed her "first love," Kazimierz Zorawski, because her potential fiance's wealthy family disapproved of the match, considering Marie not a good enough.

Marya Sklodowska - as she then was - was thus released to study in Paris, and to become the internationally recognised pioneer scientist who discovered radium and ushered in the nuclear age.

Cantor's story follows a reassuring structure, telling alternating interlocking dual stories, from the viewpoint of the Marie who went to Paris and married Pierre Curie, and her counterpart who stayed at home in Russian dominated Poland and married her ardent suitor.

It's a richly documented story which brings to life the world of one of the most outstanding women of all time and addresses one central question: was one life more fulfilling and productive than the other?
It's a riveting tale, powerfully presented, deeply detailed in its research, and ultimately a thought-provoking, hugely satisfying read.
Jillian talks about her work on The Joys of Binge Reading podcast in Marie Curie Re-Imagined.
https://thejoysofbingereading.com/jillian-cantor-marie-curie-re-imagined/

This is very much a Sliding Doors type of narrative, where half is based on truth, half on speculation. For the most part, the two storylines are distinct, but they were close enough in some content that I sometimes couldn't remember which variation a particular event happened within. Overall, an enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGallery and Simon and Schuster for my free digital copy of this book.
This novel covers parallel lives of Marie Curie. One story is about the factual life of Marie Curie who went to Paris instead of getting married. The other is the fictitional tale of Marya who stayed in her home land of Poland and got married to her fiance.
I have always been interested in the life of Marie Curie and what hurdles she had to overcome being a woman from that era.
The fictional Marya Curie was also a very strong woman and was a trailblazer in feminine rights in an oppressed Poland. She did not elect to merely stay at home and become a housewife, she also realised how important education was for women and founded an underground university for women.
This novel really intrigued me as it gave Marie Curie a personality instead of just the factual history. What a forward thinking woman! She discovered radium and Polonium (named for her birth country of Poland) with her husband Pierre, earning them a Nobel Peace prize. She was the first woman to earn a Nobel Peace prize, not only once but twice.
Radium would also be the cause of her eventual death.
Both stories are intriguing and they flow together seamlessly. I really enjoyed this novel

“Half Life” is an interesting twist on a historical novel, and although I didn’t find it compelling, I’m not sorry I read it. It’s well written, the historical material is engaging, and Cantor has taken a unique approach.

This is the story of Marie Curie’s life. It’s split into two strands. One is reasonably faithful to historical fact. The other is almost entirely fictional, and imagines what Marie’s life would have been if she had stayed in Poland and married her first love.

Both strands open in 1891, when Marie is 22 years old and in love with Kazimierz. She has been working as a governess for his younger siblings, saving money to travel to Paris and study at the Sorbonne. But his parents see Marie as just an impoverished governess, and tell Kazimierz that they will disown him if he marries her.
And so Marie’s stories diverge. From here the chapters alternate between Marya – who stays in Poland – and Marie, who moves to Paris.

Rejected by Kazimierz, Marie travels to Paris, alters her name to a version that sounds more French, and commences the studies that will ultimately make her famous. This story strand is substantially factually accurate, although the author has elected to make a couple of significant changes. There are a number of smaller changes, too, although these are around matters such as the timing of relatively insignificant events, and don’t have much effect on the veracity of the story.

I found this strand the most interesting, because I knew only generalities about Marie Curie’s life. Her story is a strong and fascinating one. Even slightly fictionalised, it’s hard not to appreciate the immense strength and courage she showed in many aspects of her life. This novel will only increase your respect for her achievements.

In the second strand, Kazimierz defies his family and marries Marya. They struggle in poverty, finding it difficult to pay for Kazimierz to finish his education. There is no possibility of an education for Marya. It’s illegal in Poland, and the idea of travelling to Paris becomes a more and more distant pipe dream. In this strand, Marya lives a life which is closer to the life an “ordinary” woman of the time and place would have lived.

I found this strand a little less engaging. Perhaps it’s because I knew it wasn’t true; perhaps it’s because I am too familiar with stories of women being repressed and denied. In any case, it didn’t hold my interest with quite the strength of the other.

However, overall the novel works. Although the second strand wouldn’t stand by itself, I think (whereas the historical strand would), it makes a strong foil to the other. It highlights the strength Marie showed, the struggles she faced, and the very real sacrifices she made to achieve a particular goal. Most of all, it emphasises the hard choices she made.

I feel a touch ambiguous about “Half Life”, primarily because of the slightly lopsided way I engaged with the two stories. I was often absorbed, though, and closed the book with a sense of satisfaction. I know more about a pioneering woman than I did, I have a stronger sense of the period in which she lived, and I have an idea about the alternatives facing her.

This unusual approach to historical fiction is well written, and I think is likely to appeal not just to readers of historical fiction or literary fiction, but also to readers interested in history or feminism. There’s a lot to think about here, as well as an engaging story.

4.5 stars!

Oh, my heart. This book is superb. If you have not added this to your top 5 TBR, and you love historical fiction, you need to act now.

This book is a sliding door story starting in 1891 - part fiction, part real life. The story’s two point of views are ‘Madam Marie Curie’ (the one we all know), a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity, and ‘Marya Sklodowska’, who chose love over science and married young and remained in Poland (the fictional timeline).

The two stories start off a little predictable… Maria finds quick success in all things in life and Marya struggles to satisfy her innate hunger for knowledge, education and science in Poland where education for women is illegal.

But as both stories evolve, we see different people in her life and different outcomes for her and the ones she loves, but we also see new people cross her path in both lives. I most loved the moments where the stories collide and moments and circumstances occur in both timelines, or small references to some people or events in one timeline that play a big part in the other.

Mostly, I loved the biographical nature of this book. Learning about Madam Curie’s life, love and losses was for the most part very heartbreaking. I couldn’t help but observe that scientists in the late 1800s/early 1900s seemed to have been the celebrities of their era (heck, that is a time in our world where science paved the way), so naturally with that, Madam Curie’s life, love and losses were not unlike many folk who encounter fame.

Also a great book on female empowerment! This was an era where woman had no say, no opportunities, and madam Curie had the courage to resist - mostly fighting for education and excelling in the science field (Nobel prize x 2 anyone?). Marya also doing this in rebellious ways.

A book not to miss.

Thank you Net Galley for sending me this ARC in return for my honest review

I love a book that mixes a story of truth with a story of 'what if'. And this one didn't disappoint.

This is such an interesting read full of what did happen and what would have happened. I learned things I didn't know and enjoyed reading about a life that may have been. It was interesting, insightful, even a bit fun. It is well written making it easy to read, yet was challenging and thought provoking.

The characters real and imagined brought life to the story and gave it depth, romance and life.

Loved this book and would recommend.

This is a fantastic novel! i loved the "what if" element of Marie Curie's life.

The characters were vivid and the writing was very captivating. As a reader of historical fiction this one ticked a lot of boxes for me. I would highly recommend it to fans of historical fiction.

Wow, what a brilliant book! Half Life is a fascinating sliding doors reimagining of Marie Curie's life. Beautifully written, I was completely captivated from start to finish.⁣
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Jillian Cantor explores what life may have been like for the first female Nobel Prize winner - if Marie Curie chose love over science.⁣
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We get two compelling narrators in Marya and Marie as their story unfolds in two intriguing alternate timelines and we witness how their lives and those of their friends, family and colleagues are altered based on the choices they make.⁣
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#HalfLife is a passionate story of love, friendship, motherhood & family and the struggles women face. It's one of the best sliding stories that I've read and I highly recommend you pick this one up!⁣

Thanks to Simon Schuster Australia for providing an eARC for review

Have you ever wondered how much impact a single one of your life choices has on the rest of your life, and perhaps on those around you? I certainly have. Half Life is a fictitious account of the life of Marie Curie - both of her life as we know it, moving to Paris, marrying Pierre Curie, discovering radium and polonium, winning two Nobel prizes etc - and of an alternative life in which she stayed with her teenage sweetheart instead, despite his parents’ disapproval. Both stories were compelling in and of themselves, and I really enjoyed the way Jillian Cantor was able to thread the same people into both stories with different outcomes.

As a scientist, a doctor, and a mother, I found this book a bit close to home in places when it was examining that perennial question: can women have it all? Can I be a good mother, present to my children, and still work and find fulfilment outside the home? We know the answer to that is yes, but we also know that when we choose to spread ourselves across both, there will be instances where one must take precedence over the other. Cantor portrayed this poignantly with “real” Marie’s lack of leisure time with her children and difficulty relating to her daughter who preferred music to science, juxtaposed with imaginary Marya’s living for her daughter and taking much longer to find fulfilment in science, and in not as incredibly as Marie.

I came to this novel without, I’m embarrassed to admit, a good understanding of Marie Curie’s personal life. I think that actually worked in my favour as I did not have preconceived notions of how Marie’s life should pan out, nor was I bothered by various liberties Cantor took with the truth. I appreciated the note at the end to explain briefly what was real and not.

Slow in parts, in the way that a Russian epic is slow. You need to work for it but it is worth it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for my honest review.

"Half Life" by Jillian Cantor is a "what if" novel that examines the life and times of dual Nobel Prize winning scientist Marie Curie and speculates on what her life may have been had she remained Marya Sklodowska and married her first love in Poland and lived a less worldly life.
I found it fascinating to read about someone I knew very little about.....but must admit to sometimes confusing the timelines and histories of Marie and Marya. Nonetheless I found the factual detail, settings and charming vignettes of times past engaging enough to get me through the tangled personal relationships of each woman. I am inspired to discover more about the achievements, not only of Marie and her husband, but also her sisters and daughters.
The theme is strongly that the decisions we make have huge repercussions on our future.....who we become and what we achieve. The importance of education (particularly for women) and the struggle to attain it is paramount....strong women who can combine education, career and family are shown here dealing with love, betrayal, joy and loss.

My thanks to NetGalley providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

📚 Book Review 📚

📚 Half Life by Jillian Cantor

📚 Publication Date - 23rd Match 2021

📚 Half Life is a brilliant sliding-doors reimagining of the passionate life of the first woman to win a Nobel Prize – and the life Marie Curie might have led if she had chosen love over science.

📚 Half Life is a powerful story of love and friendship, motherhood and sisterhood, fame and anonymity – and a woman destined to change the world.

📚 The novel follows its protagonist as both Marie and Marya, shifting back and forth between both perspectives to show her life as Marie in Paris, where she meets and marries Pierre Curie and goes on to discover radium, and her life as Marya who remains in Poland and marries her first love, Kazimierz. Both Marie and Marya are fully realised and beautifully portrayed, and in both lives, Cantor explores Curie’s ambition, thirst for knowledge, and the importance of women receiving a proper education.

📚 Both Marie and Marya are well developed characters. They are vividly imagined, fascinating and highly original, Half Life is the perfect book for readers of historical fiction.

What if we could write the story of our life as reality and how it could have been if we had just taken the other path?

Have you ever thought about how things would have been if only you had taken the other path?

Said "Yes" where you said "No".

Or, not got on the train and moved to another part of the world but stayed with the one person you really loved?

Or...?

Life is full of options and we are often left analyzing the "what if's".

Jullian Cantor has written such a novel that answers the "what if" to Marya Sklodawska. She could have stayed Poland and lived a life way different from the life she lived in Paris and in this novel she does both. You will read chapter by chapter the parallel happenings of her life in Paris had she got on the train, and her life in Poland had she not got on the train.

I was gripped into both stories. I had the "No!" moments, where I thought "What are thinking?" and then was enticed back into the supportive reader who agreed with her choices. It was a roller coaster ride as I flicked from chapter to chapter and one life to the other.

It was a fantastic read like none other that I have encountered. It was the most brilliant concept put into written word and I want more novels like this one.

I was left questioning the choices I have made in my life. I have journeyed many options and chosen many paths that I may or may not chose now that I am older and wiser. As I lay the book down each night I was left thinking about our parallel opportunities and the options that we take. I came to the end of the book, and the end of my own questions, and agreed that Maria (Marya) chose the right path at the right time and so have I. Life is a journey of possibilities and we make choices that make the journey interesting. I wonder how many times Maria wondered about her choices? I still have many to make, but so far life's choices have put me on a journey that I am happy to have taken.

If you get the opportunity to read 'Half Life' then pick it up and take the journey with Maria. Take the journey with yourself too.

Jillian has depicted the life of Marya with much respect . The colourful detail carefully reveals the possible extremes in her future; dependent on a heart wrenching choice that Marya is positioned to make. Little did she know that her future could include a nobel prize in science. Both Marya and Marie had a passion for education and science; both journeys changing the course of history in Poland at a time when the education of women was not seen as important. "Half life" is named perfectly summing up the contrast of both choices lived out; perhaps at times each women has been living half of their potential life for various reasons of hinderances, situations and choices.

I found this book absolutely fascinating. Alternating chapters contrasted Marie Curie's actual life with an imagined version of what could have been had she stayed in Poland and gotten married. I enjoyed both versions and found the alternating chapters worked well to tell an overall story of feminism in science.

I didn't know much about Marie Curie so the chapters relaying her actual life, with some artistic license, were incredible. The amount of work she completed, constantly fighting against society and her peers to be taken seriously and to be allowed to do what she loved is awe-inspiring. In the other chapters, I appreciated Cantor's imagined life for Curie. She showed that Curie likely would have faced a lot of the same struggles as a woman who felt a strong push to be educated and to educate others. Without a formal education, living in near-poverty, she never truly gave up on her dream - she just had to face a lot more obstacles.

It was interesting to see the same characters showing up in both worlds, often with very significant differences. Overall I was caught up in this story and appreciated this unique perspective on Curie's life and her contributions to the world.

A captivating sliding doors story, Half Life gives insight into the life, loves and work of brilliant scientist Marie Curie as well as proposing an alternate reality had she instead stayed in Poland and married her first love. I was intrigued by the scientific research detailed in the book both by Marie Curie and by characters in the alternative reality involving Marya Zorowski. While I found this a truly fascinating story, it was a slow read largely due, I think, to the extensive use of narrative. It was very much like reading a pair of slightly different personal diaries and as such I found I could only read a little at a time. That said, great story and well worth investing time in.