Jan Eliasberg seeks to restore a genius to her rightful place in history through fiction.
On this special episode, sponsored by Sourcebooks, Eliasberg discusses her debut novel, Hannah’s War (Back Bay Books, March 3), inspired by the life of Dr. Lise Meitner, the physicist who discovered nuclear fission.
Set primarily in 1945, Hannah’s War is the story of a genius Jewish nuclear physicist, Dr. Hannah Weiss, who’s working with a team of scientists in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to split the atom and build the nuclear bomb—for the United States. But she soon becomes a suspect in an alleged attempt to undermine the program by passing secrets to Hitler’s scientists.
Eliasberg joins host Megan Labrise to discuss her career as an award-winning screenwriter and director. They also talk about Dr. Meitner’s life and brilliant contributions to science, what Dr. Meitner and Hannah do—and don’t—have in common, and the importance of restoring unsung women to their rightful places in the historical record.
Then children’s editor Vicky Smith, nonfiction editor Eric Liebetrau, and fiction editor Laurie Muchnick join with their reading recommendations for the week.
Editors’ picks:
The Chaos Curse by Sayantani DasGupta (Scholastic)
Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction by David Enrich (Custom House)
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry (Pantheon)
Fully Booked is produced by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.
