Oh Pure and Radiant Heart (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781932360851)

Transported to the 21st century, Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and Enrico Fermi grapple with the legacy of the atom bomb in this "shattering and beautiful" time travel novel (Entertainment Weekly).

Oh Pure and Radiant Heart plucks the three scientists who were key to the invention of the atom bomb--Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard and Enrico Fermi--as they watch history's first mushroom cloud rise over the desert on July 16th, 1945 . . . and places them down in modern-day Santa Fe.

One by one, the scientists are spotted by a shy librarian who becomes convinced of their authenticity. Entranced, bewildered, overwhelmed by their significance as historical markers on the one hand, and their peculiar personalities on the other, she, to the dismay of her husband, devotes herself to them. Soon the scientists acquire a sugar daddy--a young pothead millionaire from Tokyo who bankrolls them. Heroes to some, lunatics or con artists to others, the scientists finally become messianic religious figureheads to fanatics, who believe Oppenheimer to be the Second Coming.

As the ever-growing convoy traverses the country in a fleet of RV's on a pilgrimage to the UN, the scientists wrestle with the legacy of their invention and their growing celebrity, while Ann and her husband struggle with the strain on their marriage, a personal journey married to a history of thermonuclear weapons.

"Possesses the nervy irreverence of Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller . . . Can only be described as, well, genius." --Vanity Fair

Author: Lydia Millet
ISBN-10: 1932360859
ISBN-13: 9781932360851
Publisher: Soft Skull
Language: English
Published: 06/06/2005
Pages: 448
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.79lbs
Size: 9.62h x 6.36w x 1.36d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 04/15/2005 pg. 444
Booklist 04/01/2005 pg. 1345
Publishers Weekly 05/16/2005 pg. 34
Ingram Advance 07/01/2005 pg. 48
Entertainment Weekly 07/08/2005 pg. 72
Vanity Fair 07/01/2005 pg. 40
New Yorker (The) 07/25/2005 pg. 97
Booksense '76 July 2005 07/01/2005 pg. 1
Quill & Quire 08/01/2005 pg. 26
New York Times 08/28/2005 pg. 17
Booklist Editors Choice/Adult 01/01/2006 pg. 10