A review by erinevelynreads
Atomic Anna, by Rachel Barenbaum
5.0
In 1986, nuclear physicist Anna Berkova awakens in the Soviet Union, at the exact moment Chernobyl’s reactor malfunctions. She is suddenly, temporarily transported to 1992. There she discovers her estranged daughter, Molly. Molly has been shot and is dying. With her dying breath, she tells Anna to save Raisa, Molly’s daughter, Anna’s granddaughter. Now with the knowledge that she has the ability to time travel, Anna must grapple with how to use this new technology. The more she travels, the more increasingly apparent it becomes that she must choose between her family and preventing one of the greatest nuclear disasters in history.
Part historical fiction, part science fiction, Atomic Anna asks the question how far would you go for the ones you love. The story opens with the Chernobyl disaster and jumps around the 20th century from 1930 to 1992 as it shows the three distinct yet interwoven narratives of Anna, Molly, and Raisa.
Anna is a scientist who grapples with her involvement in the Chernobyl disaster. Her research on nuclear energy was instrumental in building the facility. Now that she knows a disaster will occur, she is struggling to determine how to right her past wrongs.
Molly is Anna’s daughter who she gave up at birth. She is being raised in Philadelphia by Anna’s friends. Molly loves to draw and create comic books but struggles to adapt to the blend of American lifestyle and Soviet traditions. Her form of escape is creating a comic book called Atomic Anna, which depicts her nuclear physicist mother and her saving the world.
Raisa is Molly’s daughter. She loves math. When her mother Molly is convicted of a crime and sent to jail, Raisa is sent to live with her adopted grandparents in Philadelphia. She struggles to fit in given that she is quite the math prodigy and longs to meet her scientist grandmother, Anna.
More than anything this is a family saga, following three generations of women through their struggles with identity and acceptance. I loved the seamless blend of historical events with time travel. It’s such a gorgeous and fascinating story. I struggled to put it down, and once I finished, I desperately wanted more.
I highly recommend Atomic Anna to fans of multi-generational family sagas and historical fiction!
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the review copy! All opinions are my own.
Part historical fiction, part science fiction, Atomic Anna asks the question how far would you go for the ones you love. The story opens with the Chernobyl disaster and jumps around the 20th century from 1930 to 1992 as it shows the three distinct yet interwoven narratives of Anna, Molly, and Raisa.
Anna is a scientist who grapples with her involvement in the Chernobyl disaster. Her research on nuclear energy was instrumental in building the facility. Now that she knows a disaster will occur, she is struggling to determine how to right her past wrongs.
Molly is Anna’s daughter who she gave up at birth. She is being raised in Philadelphia by Anna’s friends. Molly loves to draw and create comic books but struggles to adapt to the blend of American lifestyle and Soviet traditions. Her form of escape is creating a comic book called Atomic Anna, which depicts her nuclear physicist mother and her saving the world.
Raisa is Molly’s daughter. She loves math. When her mother Molly is convicted of a crime and sent to jail, Raisa is sent to live with her adopted grandparents in Philadelphia. She struggles to fit in given that she is quite the math prodigy and longs to meet her scientist grandmother, Anna.
More than anything this is a family saga, following three generations of women through their struggles with identity and acceptance. I loved the seamless blend of historical events with time travel. It’s such a gorgeous and fascinating story. I struggled to put it down, and once I finished, I desperately wanted more.
I highly recommend Atomic Anna to fans of multi-generational family sagas and historical fiction!
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the review copy! All opinions are my own.