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Let it destroy you : a novel / Harriet Alida Lye.

by Lye, Harriet Alida.

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McClelland & Stewart, 2023.

Nineteen forties -- Fiction.

Physicists -- Fiction.

Atomic bomb -- Fiction.

Parent and child -- Fiction.

9780771000423 (trade pbk.)

244 p. ; 21 cm.

"From the acclaimed author of The Honey Farm and Natural Killer comes a tense and enveloping novel inspired by the incredibly true story of the man who invented the atomic bomb, though all he wanted to do was save the world. It is 1945, and Hungarian Jewish physicist August Snow is on trial at the International War Crimes Court for patenting a technology that has been proven capable of destroying the entire world. He instigated humanity's ability to decide its own death and then profited from the inevitable, but the initial reason for his research was to come up with a way to cure his daughter, Leora, of cancer. August's wife June insists she had nothing to do with the bomb -- after all, she was forced to give up her career as a doctor when she got pregnant, lost her place in the public sphere, and in the early days of motherhood she almost lost her mind, too. But who is implicated in events of global significance? Who is responsible for the seemingly small decisions that affect the life of a family, of a child? Going back to tell the story of how June and August fell in love and arrived at where they are now, the novel travels across Europe and America during the lead-up to the Second World War, tracing how the rise of antisemitism shaped their lives. Their personal stories parallel August's discovery of nuclear fission, his involvement with the Manhattan Project, and their beloved daughter's radiation treatment. Though the treatment saved Leora from the cancer that would have otherwise killed her, August and June separated when they disagreed about what should be done with the information he had gained from developing her cure. The aftermath of their love, like the fallout of the bomb, destroys everything in its wake. Let It Destroy You is a story of love, morality, creation, and loss, told with great reverence for the natural world while capturing the tragic brilliance of an idealistic mind."--Provided by publisher.

Historical fiction.

Canadian fiction.

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