NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST

ADAPTED FOR MAJOR MOTION PICTURE (2019, Dir. Marjane Satrapi)

Lauren Redniss’ acclaimed Radioactive, a finalist for the National Book Award, combines art, reportage, and cultural history to tell the story of Marie and Pierre Curies’ intellectual partnership and to examine the contemporary reverberations of their discoveries. The result is a landmark work of visual non-fiction about the power of two invisible forces: radioactivity and love.

The book was also adapted into a major motion picture, directed by Marjane Satrapi, starring Rosamund Pike and Anya Taylor-Joy, and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018.


”[Radioactive] is a deeply unusual and forceful thing to have in your hands…The electricity…derives from the friction between Ms. Redniss’s text and her ambitious and spooky art.”
New York Times

“Original and brilliant.”
The New Yorker

“[Redniss] continues to defy the usual categories.”
The Economist

 

“Stunningly beautiful…Radioactive is a rare cross-pollination of art and science, the kind of storytelling that makes us care about stories.”
The Atlantic

“It is difficult to compare Radioactive to other works from any written or visual tradition, except perhaps another book of Redniss’s own.”
Wall Street Journal

 

“Unforgettable…linguistically rich and visually captivating.”
Nature

“One does not read the book, one enters into it—an experience somewhere between walking into a cutting-edge museum exhibition and seeing into the mind of an artist’s imaginings.”
Science

“Astounding creativity and beauty….a tender and haunting tribute to the scientists who fell in love while conducting research that led to their discovery of radium and polonium.”
San Francisco Chronicle

“A beautiful, heartbreaking work of art.”
— Wired

“Deft narrative and vivid illustrations…create a thoroughly modern account of the scientific and romantic passions of the Curies, as well as the repercussions of their discoveries.”
Scientific American

 

“My wonder never ceased as I turned these pages.”
The Washington Post

 

“Utterly original.”
New Scientist

“Her visual biographies …are a delight to the eye, but also show a new way of revealing the contours and dimensions of past lives.”
The Smithsonian Magazine