... [an] imaginative and immersive dual biography ... [a] spirit of joy illuminates Radiant ... a true account that reads as fluidly as a novel ... Her evocation of Paris feels lush and lively ... Through her affectionate depiction of these women and their milieu, Heinecke allows their spirits 'to keep shining on with a faint but steady light, inspiring us to dream bigger, work harder and reach higher'; skillfully, seamlessly, she lets their friendship and feminism blaze again in the 21st.
... Heinecke has captured their lives, their times, and their friendship in a beautifully crafted work of creative nonfiction as gripping as any novel of Belle Epoch Paris ... In sharing their stories, Liz Heinecke has shined a light on two remarkable women whose work and friendship was a gift to each other and to the world.
Radiant doesn’t do this promising material justice. The approach is bold, using imaginary dialogue and inner thoughts to flesh out the women’s stories, but the narrative tone flips uneasily between novelistic dramatization and biographical info-dumping. Too often, major life events are told as backstory rather than portrayed as lived experiences. In a dramatized documentary film, we know when we’re seeing an actor and when we’re hearing a commentator. In Radiant that’s hard to tell, and this makes the book difficult to engage with.
Heinecke, previously an author of science books for kids, draws on her art and science degrees in this vividly elucidating and enthralling double portrait which reads like a biographical novel rather than a dual biography as she boldly imagines the thoughts and feelings of her two magnetic subjects and invents dialogue. Some readers may object to these creative-nonfiction techniques, but extensive bibliographic notes attest to the factual foundation supporting this irresistible, dramatic, many-faceted, and, yes, illuminating tale of two extraordinary geniuses and their friendship. Heinecke’s fresh take on Curie is welcome, and her portrayal of the too-little-known Fuller is revelatory.
A solid researcher and an engaging storyteller, Heinecke focuses only on interpreting known details (such as those Fuller provides in her journal about Curie) rather than speculating on unknowns—e.g., what Curie thought of Fuller. The author's careful attention to history—especially as it pertains to the struggle creative women like Curie and Fuller faced for acceptance as creative equals to men—helps round out the text with feminist insights. The result is a unique, satisfying biography/creative nonfiction hybrid that celebrates the achievements of two women who revolutionized the artistic and scientific worlds. An illuminating book for fans of biography and popular science.
... a fascinating dual biography ... Heinecke skillfully mines memoirs, journals, and letters to invent dialogue between her subjects and others in their milieu ... She convincingly captures the dynamics of Fuller and Curie’s friendship and draws insightful parallels between their lives and careers ... With rich evocations of Belle Époque Paris and accessible introductions to the era’s artistic and scientific breakthroughs, this inspirational portrait of two trailblazing women soars.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay[/caption]
