The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard is a novel set in Oak Ridge, TN, one of the homes of the Manahattan Project during WW2. The Atomic City Girls follows the lives of June Walker, her roommate Cici, Dr. Sam Cantor, and African-American construction worker Joe Brewer once they become residents of Oak Ridge. June and Cici work in the Y-12 plant as Calutron girls and Dr. Sam Cantor is a physicist who oversees the lab where they work. June and Sam begin dating, which drives June and Cici apart. Cici is busy anyways trying to find a rich man to marry and pretending she's not poor. Joe works hard and hopes to bring his wife and kids to Oak Ridge eventually. His roommate, Ralph, who is like a son to him, begins going to meetings to help make life better for the African-American people at Oak Ridge.
The title of The Atomic City Girls is rather misleading, since two of the main characters we follow are men. Overall, though, it was definitely worth the read. Oak Ridge in general interests me and it was well-written enough to enjoy. The characters did start to get annoying though- particularly June and Sam's story. Sam is depressed and a little unhinged, which June keeps putting up with for no apparent reason. June is a curious and intelligent woman, who seeks knowledge well beyond what she learned in her rural school. She could do so much better than alcoholic mopey Sam. The more interesting story to me was Joe and Ralph's. Oak Ridge really was very segregated and the difference in treatment of people who were all working hard on the same project is appalling to the modern reader. Reading about the early efforts to change things was interesting though.
The basis of The Atomic City Girls is fairly fact-based, but the people and their relationships are fictional. There was enough research done to make the book enjoyable and to still provide insight into the real lives of the people who worked in Oak Ridge.
The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan is a nonfiction book about Oak Ridge, TN. The Girls of Atomic City focuses on 9 real women who lived and worked in Oak Ridge. Kiernan based the book mainly on interviews she conducted herself. Even with its high level of research, it still came out a highly enjoyable read. It reads more like a narrative than just dry facts. In between chapters about the women's lives were short chapters about the development of the bomb itself and the science behind it. It was nice to have this background knowledge interspersed, instead of all being chunked together.
The only complaint I have about The Girls of Atomic City is that it left me wanting more! I wanted more stories about these amazing women.
So which book should you read? If you have the time, I'd read both. They both give good looks into every day life in Oak Ridge. If you only have the time to read one, I'd go with The Girls of Atomic City since it's all fact-based, but still reads like a novel.
