ATOMIC LOVE

In a spy thriller set in Chicago during the Red Scare of the early 1950s, Fields combines a paean to feminist empowerment with old-fashioned romance, both centered on a female scientist.

During World War II, Rosalind Porter, now 30, was the only woman—and Enrico Fermi's favorite—among 50 people working on what she calls "the project." But the dropping of the A-bomb and its human cost devastated her. Then her lover, Thomas Weaver, a British scientist with the project, broke her heart, not only dumping her for another woman but, Roz suspects, also writing the report that ruined her career. Four years later, she yearns to return to science but has been reduced to selling jewelry at Marshall Field’s. Then Weaver re-appears, begging for a second chance, though at first he resists explaining why he left or why he’s returned. Roz is struggling to resist her strong feelings for Weaver when she’s approached by FBI agent Charlie Szydlo, who asks her to keep seeing Weaver and pass on what she learns. Charlie suspects Weaver is giving scientific secrets to the Soviet Union. Compelled by a mix of patriotism and desire, Roz reluctantly agrees to see Weaver. After they have passionate sex, he acknowledges that there are secrets he'll eventually need to share. Rosalyn feels torn. She loves him deeply but isn't sure she trusts him. Nevertheless, she agrees to hide his safe deposit box key without telling Charlie, for whom she is also developing feelings. After all, not only is he handsome, despite a ruined hand—the result of his stay in a brutal Japanese POW camp—but he's also reliable in ways Weaver is not. Both men adore Roz for her Hedy Lamarr beauty and brains (which the real Lamarr also had), but neither is anxious to share the secret demons tormenting him. After creating intriguing, complex characters—particularly enigmatic Weaver—Fields rushes the obvious espionage plot toward both a professional and romantic ending for Roz that is every woman’s wish fulfillment.

Atmospheric, historically interesting escapism.