Interesting story...reviewers are all over the place with this one...loved it or hated it. The major criticism seems to be there is no real basis for believing Einstein treated his first wife this way. I still think its an interesting story considering there is speculation on what, if any, collaboration his wife had on his theory of relativity. a good biography of Albert is EINSTEIN, which also questions some of her involvement and their relationship. Still a decent read.

As a group, we thoroughly enjoyed this book! It is historical fiction, and in general, it is one of our favorite genres'. None of us knew anything about Mileva, the main character prior to reading the book and it was eye opening. We had an array of emotions after reading it including being impressed by her and also angered that she seemed to be "swept under the rug" so to speak after dealing with so many obstacles. Particularly interesting timing considering the current increasing support for women with STEM interests and abilities.

This was a great book for us and may also be enjoyed by YA. Some of our teen/tween daughters have also found this book to be interesting and enjoyable as several snatched the copies from us after book club. :)

We gave 4 instead of 5 stars as it would have been nice to see a little on the resources used. They are clearly scant, which the author mentioned but even citing "something" would have been appreciated or it would have been great to see one of the letters exchanged between the Einsteins. Overall a great book and recommended read! Thank you Book Movement!!

I, and several other members of the club, found this book to be very slow and found it unbelievable. Most of the problems were caused by Mrs. Einstein not being able to believe in herself!

This was a selection for my book club. It tells the story of Mitza Maric, a gifted woman, who met Einstein while studying physics with him at Zurich University. She fell in love with him, married him, and, some might argue, sacrificed herself to him. I didn’t know that Einstein was even married so I thought a historical fiction about his first wife would be informative and interesting. I was really looking forward to this monthly book club selection.

The novel delivered on being informative and it had me researching the events described and people depicted in the story. I was interested in discovering more about his first wife and their children. I wanted to investigate more about the author’s claim that Mitza was a major contributor to (and to some extent the creator of) Einstein’s theory of relativity. I what wanted to know which parts of the novel were based on fact and which parts were completely fictitious.

When writing historical fiction, I believe the author needs to create a realistic/believable motivation for the real characters’ actions. I do not think the author delivered well on this. Mitza was portrayed as being different and set apart for her entire life. She was raised to value her education and learning above all else. I found many of Mitza’s decisions after she met Einstein to be inconsistent with the character portrayed before meeting Einstein. It did seem like the same person. It did ring or hold true for me. I found myself angry at her decisions and behavior. It did not make sense for the character. For me, reading this novel also knocked Einstein off of his pedestal. He was portrayed as a selfish, self-absorbed, glory-seeking jerk. It was hard to believe how he so callously destroyed the things he claimed to respect and love about Mitza. The writing in the novel was not at a level that could make up for the character inconsistencies either. I was disappointed with this selection and would not recommend it for others.

Hated Einstein after reading this. How dare he?

After this quick read, I am more intrigued by the people, particularly women, around Einstein. However much of the story focused on the imagined emotional responses, easily paralleled to the modern-day power struggle between men and women, rather than the historical context and importance of the shift in leading scientific thought. The protagonist's insights were mere quotes of concepts without any clarification of what the thinking was at the time and why/how her thoughts were new and exciting. Wouldn't recommend other than it is fast and easy. And would be fun to read while consuming the delightful pastries and coffee of the time.

It was an interesting perspective of the possible relationship between Albert and his first wife, Mitza Maric. It reminds us where our culture was and how it has changed which created immersing conversation.