THE WIVES OF LOS ALAMOS

Nesbit's well-researched novel looking back to the years 1943-45 and the creation of the A-bomb is made even better by Tavia Gilbert's energetic, upbeat narration. The author takes a risk by making her narrator a collective "we." Having no individual character to connect to, the "we" proves distancing rather than inviting. However, thanks to Gilbert's performance, relationships become clear. As the wives give up their lives and careers to follow their scientist husbands to the desert, Gilbert makes their sense of helplessness apparent. Moments of fun and growing camaraderie mingle with moments of snobbery, jealousy, boredom, and booze. Gilbert enlivens all the details--from the expectations for women of the era to the cataclysmic dropping of the bomb. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2014]