Historical fiction has always been a genre of reading that I have enjoyed. It was a way to transport me back to another time and place. When I was younger I remember reading an entire series about the Revolutionary War. So when a book club that I am in requested suggestions about women scientists, I remembered that this book was on my TBR pile.

Albert Einstein is just someone that everyone in the world knows about. It is a thing, he came up with the theory of relativity. But what if he didn’t. And what do we know about his first wife who also was a physicist? These are all questions that are answered (or theorized about) in Marie Benedict’s The Other Einstein.

Since I didn’t know that much about Einstein to begin with, I wasn’t sure what to expect in a story about his little known first wife. I was pleasantly surprised by the information in the book. While it may not have all been true, it did paint an interesting light on this mysterious woman that might have played such a profound role in one of the major scientific theories that everyone is aware of.

Noting that this is historical fiction, I have to say I hope that the stories told about Einstein in this aren’t true, it did represent what women in STEM go through on a daily basis. And in some senses it was actually worse since Mileva was married to Einstein. On top of the typical women in STEM drama, she also had to deal with the fragile male ego of her husband. I would not wish that on anyone.

This was a good way to learn about Mileva Maric Einstein, and it made my #steminist side prickle with seeing how she may have been treated by her husband. I’m glad this book is brining Mileva and her story to the general public to learn about.