Sisters in Science by Olivia Campbell

TL;DR: This one had me tense, sad, and fascinated all in different turns. A very good read.
Source: Netgalley – Thanks so much to the publisher!

Plot: We follow four women (who are mostly forgotten by popular history) who fled Nazi Germany.
Subjects: These three women were all fascinating and important to scientific history. I’d like to read more about them.
Setting: We stayed primarily in Germany following our women and the Nazi rise though we branched to a few other countries later in the book.
Readability: This was very accessible, there were only a few times I felt like a some previous knowledge of the science would have been nice.

Thoughts:

Sisters in Science was an emotional read for me, I have to admit. We follow the lives of four women who grew up and studied science in Germany. This alone is a huge achievement for the time as the author points out, this was difficult and in some areas almost impossible. This is during the time in which women are forced to stay home and in most cases not even allowed to finish higher degrees. Unfortunately all four women are impacted as the Nazi’s rise to power disrupts and threatens all of them.

The book follows what we know happens. Hitler’s slow rise to power and his gradual murder and destruction of the Jewish population. It’s not just the Jewish folks, those even remotely related or associated, and others of smaller populations are targeted and we see that outlined here. It always boggles my mind the level of hate a group of people can have for others, historical or now, and that is what made this so difficult to read at times. She didn’t shy to far away from the atrocities but did manage to focus on the women. We were shown the clear danger they were in as colleagues and family were murdered around them and we watched them flee.

I really recommend this for anyone who loves science history, especially focusing on the scientists themselves. Fans of WWII histories will likely also enjoy this. It’s great for beginners in the subjects especially (like myself) as it’s readable and at times I felt like I was reading a thriller. My husband laughed at me a couple of times as I gasped and sighed out loud.

4 out of 5 stars