Her Hidden Genius brings an intense historical woman whose high standards of ethics and drive to serve for betterment of humankind were instilled in her childhood and carried her to one of the greatest discoveries in scientific world, thus, influencing the humanity.

France, 1947. Rosalind Franklin is a new researcher at chemistry institute in Paris. As a woman researcher, she felt discrimination in her native England. That’s why she welcomed this opportunity to be working in Paris where male-minds seem to be much more open toward female scientists.

Using a somewhat new scientific approach, the institute hopes to make further discoveries in molecular worlds, which further can serve a purpose for humanity. With her skills and the institute’s methods, they hope to find the ultimate purpose. While enjoying her research, she also enjoys the openness and friendliness with other colleagues, which she lacked in England.

She receives an invitation to have her research published in one of the most esteemed scientific journals and attend a scientific conference for which she is grateful. She just doesn’t know if that might be a cause of jealousy.

With certain reason, she returns to England, even though she thought she’d stay in Paris forever. In England, unexpectedly an opportunity presents for her to be working on uncovering the structure of DNA. But there are others who want to be the first to map the structure of DNA and to have a claim to what she has just discovered. Will old alliances prevail or will the promise of this research given to her be kept?

I enjoyed this heroine very much for whom the solitude of the scientific life appeals. The work as a scientist excites her despite being forced to change positions a few times due to toxic atmosphere. She comes from an affluent family, where women were encouraged to be well-educated and to use their intellectual gifts for the betterment of mankind. Pursuit of pure science is not necessarily what her family had in mind. It’s more through such work as charity. But she follows her heart. She knows herself better than anyone else and she knows that life of submission to men is not something that would make her happy. The life of science gives her freedom, which fits her perfectly.

Written with crisp prose, the novel brings informative descriptions of the scientific progress in identifying the structure of DNA, including the famous photo 51. It gives a good picture of heroine’s scientific progress, but it does not overwhelm the story. We also get to know the brilliant heroine who is much disciplined, working many hours and determined to achieve something for betterment of humankind. The time period she lived in while trying to be a female scientist is well-presented.

As with her other novels, Marie Benedict continues to shine a light on women whose talents were hidden by male dominated world. Women whose discoveries brought one of the greatest contributions to humankind and whose stories deserve to be told.

Thank you so much Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for this wonderful ebook copy!

Her Hidden Genius by Marie Benedict was such a wonderfully written story!
I absolutely devoured The Mystery Of Mrs. Christie so when I seen this novel I had to get my little hands on it!

Marie Benedict is the one the best historical novelists out there and this book was incredible!
Rosalind Franklin's character was amazing, brave, inspiring, incredible. I love her character here in this novel!
There is a alot of scientific talk here. Which sometimes flew over my head, but nonetheless this story was still an amazing one.
I felt this book to be engrossing and enchanting.
I've got praise Marie Benedict for highlighting an extraordinary woman with a powerfully-written story.

Again thank you for the opportunity to read this amazing story!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. Dr. Rosalind Franklin was at the top of her field, finding the answers surrounding DNA. She was working with world renowned scientists, all working in a race to discover if DNA is really a Helix structure. She finds her answer but does not want to let it be known until she could successfully prove the theory over and over. In the meantime, men are trying to steal her information and data and claim it as their own. Rosalind is in a race for time and validation. I was so excited when I was granted a copy of this book because I think Marie Benedict is an amazing author - Lady Clementine, The Other Woman in the Room and The Personal Librarian but this book is so chalked full of scientific data, it takes a lot to weed through. I can appreciate the amount of research it took to write this novel but I found myself skimming a lot of the scientific data written in each chapter because I could not comprehend it. However, I can appreciate her highlighting the life of a very important woman! You might consider reading it if you are a Marie Benedict fan but it is not an easy read. #HerHiddenGenius #MarieBenedict #Jan2022 #SourceBooksLandmark