The Book About Blanche and Marie: A Novel

In The Book about Blanche and Marie, Enquist has once again found inspiration from the historical record, this time exploring the fascinatingly complex relationship between two of the twentieth century’s most remarkable women: Blanche Wittman, the famous hysteria patient of Professor J.M. Charcot at Salpêtriére Hospital outside Paris, and Marie Curie, the Polish physicist and Nobel Prize winner. While the scientist tries to understand the nature of radiation, Blanche, her assistant and, at the time of her death, a triple amputee as a result of exposure to radiation, fills three notebooks with her exploration of a deceptively simple question: What is love? The Book about Blanche and Marie is at once a haunting look at scientific martyrdom and an intimate and moving portrait of a friendship between two uniquely brave and talented women.