Book - The Wives of Los Alamos

"Their average age was twenty-five. They came from Berkeley, Cambridge, Paris, London, Chicago—and arrived in New Mexico ready for adventure, or at least resigned to it. But hope quickly turned to hardship as they were forced to adapt to a rugged military town where everything was a secret, including what their husbands were doing at the lab. They lived in barely finished houses with a P.O. box for an address in a town wreathed with barbed wire, all for the benefit of a project that didn’t exist as far as the public knew. Though they were strangers, they joined together—adapting to a landscape as fierce as it was absorbing, full of the banalities of everyday life and the drama of scientific discovery.

And while the bomb was being invented, babies were born, friendships were forged, children grew up, and Los Alamos gradually transformed from an abandoned school on a hill into a real community: one that was strained by the words they couldn’t say out loud, the letters they couldn’t send home, the freedom they didn’t have. But the end of the war would bring even bigger challenges to the people of Los Alamos, as the scientists and their families struggled with the burden of their contribution to the most destructive force in the history of mankind."

image & summary from goodreads.com                               author's website

The author uses an unusual style. Some people call it the first person plural, others say it's the collective third person. Whatever you call it, it's the way the author shows that life in Los Alamos was experienced in many different ways. There is no “one” story, no one reaction to lack of water and bathtubs or parenting in this unusual situation or dealing with rumors in a place where everything was supposed to be secret. One reviewer said this style resulted in a “tapestry of time and place.” Initially, the style got in the way of the story for me and I thought I wouldn't/couldn't finish the book. I persisted for a few chapters and eventually found that I was enjoying the story; enjoying hearing the voices of many women who were trying to have "normal" family life in this very different place and these very difficult circumstances. 

The people living in Los Alamos were severely restricted in what they could do and say. There were rules about contact with their families. People couldn’t know where they lived. When they did go to nearby towns, they were told what they could and couldn’t say. The birth certificate for children born in Los Alamos listed their birthplace as P.O. Box 1663 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Read a review in the New York Times here. 

This book brings to mind the way our lives are impacted by big issues with major consequences as well as the smaller choices and major efforts that go into our every day lives. 

I like to read about the families behind the people who make the news. Often the stories behind the headlines and the headliners are just as interesting, as the stories of the big newsmakers. This book reminds me of “The Astronaut Wives Club” by Lily Koppel. These kinds of books show the importance of interviewing people, preserving and sharing their stories.

The author was born in Dayton, Ohio. The text on the book jacket said Dayton was “one of the lesser-known Manhattan Project locations.” Read about Dayton and the Manhattan Project here.