"What an important book this is … So brilliantly sketched is this brilliant woman that you will find yourself both infuriated by the misogynistic battles she faces and inspired by the intellectual achievements she manages to secure regardless. A must-read for anyone interested in science or forgotten heroines." —Kate Moore, New York Times bestselling author of The Radium Girls and The Women They Could Not Silence
"Benedict adeptly brings forward another accomplished, intriguing, and unjustly overlooked or oversimplified real-life woman in a welcoming and involving historical novel." —Booklist
About the Book
She changed the world with her discovery. Three men took the credit.
Rosalind Franklin has always been an outsider—brilliant, but different. Whether working at the laboratory she adored in Paris or toiling at a university in London, she feels closest to the science, those unchanging laws of physics and chemistry that guide her experiments. When she is assigned to work on DNA, she believes she can unearth its secrets.
Rosalind knows if she just takes one more X-ray picture—one more after thousands—she can unlock the building blocks of life. Never again will she have to listen to her colleagues complain about her, especially Maurice Wilkins who'd rather conspire about genetics with James Watson and Francis Crick than work alongside her.
Then it finally happens—the double helix structure of DNA reveals itself to her with perfect clarity. But what unfolds next, Rosalind could have never predicted.
Marie Benedict's powerful new novel shines a light on a woman who sacrificed her life to discover the nature of our very DNA, a woman whose world-changing contributions were hidden by the men around her but whose relentless drive advanced our understanding of humankind.
Upcoming Events
Lake Forest Reads Writing Contest
Book Discussion with Dickinson Hall: "Her Hidden Genius"
Where Science and Art Connect
Coffee and a Book: "Her Hidden Genius"
Further Reading & Resources
"How We Rise," a conversation between author Marie Benedict and the niece of Dr. Rosalind Franklin
Helix magazine, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science