The Radium Girls

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore.  480 pages.  Will be on sale in May, 2017 - I read an e-galley (courtesy of Edelweiss).

Imagine the nastiest, scariest monster that Stephen King can conjure up.  Then triple that, and you've got the horror of radium. At the time of World War I, hundreds of young women worked in factories, using radium-based paint to brush glowing numbers onto watch faces.  At the time, radium was touted as a miracle substance . . . but some people knew better.  Unfortunately, no one told these girls, who were assured they were safe, and even encouraged to spend time covered in the beautiful, glowing radium dust.  And glow they did, even as they started to fall mysteriously ill, and start to suffer horribly.  The dazzling dust and shining paint took hold of their bones, poisoning them at their very cores.

This rich narrative is written in a way that pulls you into these women's lives, and their individual stories. Fully exploring the background of what these girls faced, not only in the factories, but what awaited them when some were brave enough to challenge their employers, the book brings to life the brave women whose harrowing experiences paved the way for worker's rights.  You may have heard of the Radium Girls, but probably never understood just who they were, as individuals, and what some of them endured.

I found this book difficult to read, because, frankly, the effects of radium are nightmarish. However, what happened to these women is important to learn about, and I felt obligated to read the book.  And, admittedly, the book was fascinating to read. The author has a vivid writing style which brings these women to life, and makes what happen to them very real --- you cannot read this book and not feel affected.  While I knew a bit of the history behind this story, I was unaware of much of the history, including the fact that there was a radium-dial factory in Ottawa, Illinois. Being from Illinois, I was surprised I didn't know about this, and also didn't know that the court case brought by some of these women was a major case for the Illinois Industrial Commission (now known as the Worker's Compensation Commission), a court I am personally very familiar with. I finished this book with a lump in my throat and a much better understanding of what happened to these women.

By the way, lest you think that something like this could only happen back in the 1920s . . . there was a company using these same kind of unsafe practices, with radium, into the 1970s. 


This book has already been published in the UK, and will be published here in May, 2017.