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![The Other Einstein: A Novel by [Marie Benedict]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/513bQFQUeyL._SY346_.jpg)
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From beloved New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Marie Benedict comes the story of a not-so-famous scientist who not only loved Albert Einstein, but also shaped the theories that brought him lasting renown.
In the tradition of Beatriz Williams and Paula McClain, Marie Benedict's The Other Einstein offers us a window into a brilliant, fascinating woman whose light was lost in Einstein's enormous shadow. This novel resurrects Einstein's wife, a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose contribution to the special theory of relativity is hotly debated. Was she simply Einstein's sounding board, an assistant performing complex mathematical equations? Or did she contribute something more?
Mitza Maric has always been a little different from other girls. Most twenty-year-olds are wives by now, not studying physics at an elite Zurich university with only male students trying to outdo her clever calculations. But Mitza is smart enough to know that, for her, math is an easier path than marriage. Then fellow student Albert Einstein takes an interest in her, and the world turns sideways. Theirs becomes a partnership of the mind and of the heart, but there might not be room for more than one genius in a marriage.
Marie Benedict illuminates one pioneering woman in STEM, returning her to the forefront of history's most famous scientists.
"The Other Einstein takes you into Mileva's heart, mind, and study as she tries to forge a place for herself in a scientific world dominated by men."—Bustle
Recommended by PopSugar, Bustle, Booklist, Library Journal and more!
Other Bestselling Historical Fiction from Marie Benedict:
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
The Only Woman in the Room
Lady Clementine
Carnegie's Maid
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSourcebooks Landmark
- Publication dateOctober 18, 2016
- File size1414 KB
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From the Publisher
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Carnegie’s Maid | The Only Woman in the Room | Lady Clementine | The Mystery of Mrs. Christie | Her Hidden Genius | ||
Don’t miss these inspiring reads from Marie Benedict! | Discover the story of one brilliant woman who may have spurred Andrew Carnegie's transformation from ruthless industrialist to true philanthropist. | Based on the incredible true story of the glamour icon and scientist Hedy Lamarr, this book celebrates the many women in science that history has overlooked. | The ferocious story of Clementine Churchill, the ambitious woman who did not flinch through the sweeping darkness of war, and who would not surrender to expectations or to enemies. | A thrilling reconstruction of one of the most notorious events in literary history: Agatha Christie's mysterious 11-day disappearance in 1926. | Shines a light on Rosalind Franklin, whose world-changing contributions were hidden by the men around her but whose relentless drive advanced our understanding of humankind. | An explosive novel of history's most notorious sisters, one of whom will have to choose: her country or her family? |
Editorial Reviews
Review
"In The Other Einstein Marie Benedict brings us into the life and times of Mileva Mari? Einstein, Albert’s first wife. A brilliant mathematician in her own right, Mileva and Albert plan a life together of equal scholarship, but Albert’s ambitions and Mileva’s role as a wife and mother at the turn of the twentieth century make this an impossibility. Could the theory of relativity actually have been conceived by "the other Einstein"? In this fascinating and thoughtful novel, we learn that this is more than possible." ― B.A. Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author of The Art Forger and The Muralist
"Beautifully written…a finely drawn portrait of a woman in love with the wrong man." ― Jillian Cantor, author of Margot and The Hours Count
"A crusading scientist undone by love....revealing, enlightening." ― Nuala O’Connor, author of Miss Emily
"In her compelling novel… Benedict makes a strong case that the brilliant woman behind [Albert Einstein] was integral to his success, and creates a rich historical portrait in the process." ― Publishers Weekly
"Benedict's debut novel carefully traces Mileva's life―from studious schoolgirl to bereaved mother―with attention paid to the conflicts between personal goals and social conventions. An intriguing… reimagining of one of the strongest intellectual partnerships of the 19th century." ― Kirkus Reviews
"Many will enjoy Benedict’s feminist views and be fascinated by the life of an almost unknown woman." ― RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars
"...INTIMATE and IMMERSIVE historical novel....Prepare to be moved by this provocative history of a woman whose experiences will resonate with today’s readers." ― Library Journal, Editors' Fall Picks
"The Other Einstein takes you into Mileva’s heart, mind, and study as she tries to forge a place for herself in a scientific world dominated by men. " ― Bustle
"…an ENGAGING and THOUGHT PROVOKING fictional telling of the poignant story of an overshadowed woman scientist." ― Booklist
"Superb…the haunting story of Einstein’s brilliant first wife who was lost in his shadow." ― Sue Monk Kidd, NYT bestselling author of The Invention of Wings, The Secret Life of Bees, and The Mermaid Chair
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.About the Author
Marie Benedictis a lawyer with more than ten years’ experience as a litigator at two of the country’s premier law firms and for Fortune 500 companies. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Boston College with a focus in history and art history and a cum laude graduate of the Boston University School of Law. Marie, the author of The Other Einstein, Carnegie’s Maid, The Only Woman in the Room, and Lady Clementine, views herself as an archaeologist of sorts, telling the untold stories of women. She lives in Pittsburgh with her family.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.Product details
- ASIN : B01ENNQ274
- Publisher : Sourcebooks Landmark; Reprint edition (October 18, 2016)
- Publication date : October 18, 2016
- Language : English
- File size : 1414 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 338 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #6,823 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Marie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years' experience as a litigator at two of the country's premier law firms, who found her calling unearthing the hidden historical stories of women. Her mission is to excavate from the past the most important, complex and fascinating women of history and bring them into the light of present-day where we can finally perceive the breadth of their contributions as well as the insights they bring to modern day issues. She embarked on a new, thematically connected series of historical novels with THE OTHER EINSTEIN, which tells the tale of Albert Einstein's first wife, a physicist herself, and the role she might have played in his theories. The next novel in this series is the USA Today bestselling CARNEGIE'S MAID -- which released in January of 2018 -- and the book that followed is the New York Times bestseller and Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM, the story of the brilliant inventor Hedy Lamarr, which published in January of 2019. In January of 2020, LADY CLEMENTINE, the story of the incredible Clementine Churchill, was released, and became an international bestseller. Her next novel, the Instant NYTimes and USAToday bestselling THE MYSTERY OF MRS. CHRISTIE, was published on December 29, 2020, and her first co-written book, THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN, with the talented Victoria Christopher Murray, will be released on June 29, 2021. Writing as Heather Terrell, Marie also published the historical novels The Chrysalis, The Map Thief, and Brigid of Kildare.
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She took up lodging at Engelbrecht Pension an all-girl boarding house where she became friends with Milana, Ruzica, and most especially Helena who also had a limp. She had never had friends before.as.She was always teased and ridiculed. In class, Dr. Weber was particularly hard on her because she was a woman and because she was Serbian. One student reaches out to.her and that student was Albert Einstein. He flirted shamefully with her and she turned him down. Her friend Ruzica talked her into going into one of the cafes where Einstein and his friends were having an intellectual discussion on science and she found herself drawn into the discussion. When Einstein found out about the women's playing music after dinner he showed up uninvited with his violin to play with Milena. The other women don't much care for him, though.
Helena and Milena have made a pact to not have a man in their lives and to focus on their careers. But soon, Helena has found a man to love and has broken the pact. So, Milena doesn't see why she has to keep the pact too, especially when her mother is encouraging her to pursue romance even though her father is against it. Einstein and Milena have talked about marriage and while Einstein has graduated now and is looking for work, which is hard because his teachers aren't giving him good recommendations due to his absentees from class and his disrespect toward them. Milena took a semester off her second year in order to cool off her feelings for him and got behind in school which meant that she had to wait another year before she could take the test.
Einstein talks her into taking a vacation at Lake Como where they can make love before they get married. Milena comes back pregnant and Einstein won't marry her without a steady job. She flunks the exams due to her pregnancy and he refuses to come to her home to talk to her parents about the pregnancy. He has a lead on a job in the Patent Office but for now, he's tutoring. She takes the train up to the next stop to see him but he refuses to take the train up to the next stop to see her. Eventually, her money runs out and she must go back home furious at him for not seeing her. She has a baby girl that he asks her to leave with her parents six months later because he got the patent office job and he listed himself as unmarried and he can't show up with a child in tow. So she does for now.
On a paper they worked on together he asks that she take her name off of it in order for him to get better job prospects when he shows it to a friend. A year later their daughter comes down with scarlet fever and dies. On the way home riding the train, she comes up with the Theory of Relativity. The year 1905 was known as Einstein's Year of Wonder. He published four groundbreaking papers. Milena's name was supposed to be on them but he took her name off of them. She was furious. This cracked their marriage. Not to mention the infidelity. Einstein was a real bastard.
While this book plays a little fast and loose with the facts in that no one really knows what really happened and the author is imagining what she thinks happened, it is indeed a possibility. You really feel sorry for Milena who loses everything in her association with Einstein. This was a really good book that tells an incredible story. I give it five out of five stars.
Quotes
I had become the embodiment of the old Serbian phrase the house doesn’t rest on the earth but on the woman.
-Marie Benedict (The Other Einstein p 175)
For me, the novel's biggest draw was main character Mileva "Mitza" Maric. I adored her and considered her a fictional sister from our first meeting. From her scholarly bent to her mild disability, I felt like Mileva and I were almost twins from different eras. My heart broke for her as she was marginalized based on disability and sex, but I cheered for her gumption, determination, and intelligence. Better, Mileva is a three-dimensional and fully human character. She is not an "inspiration" just because she happens to be a disabled woman in a time period inhospitable to both those distinctions. Although I will admit, to a person with a literature brain instead of a science brain, Mileva certainly inspired me with her acumen for and dedication to physics.
I also loved the scenes with Ruzica, Milana, and especially Helene. They are the kinds of friends I wish I'd had growing up and while pursuing advanced degrees. And while I knew the point of The Other Einstein was to take a look at well, Einstein's wife, I kind of rooted for the quartet to somehow stay "together," single and pursuing their careers in an early twentieth-century example of feminism. But if I couldn't have that, the friendships and dialogue are wonderful enough. Mileva's relationship with Helene is particularly interesting, feminine without being silly and sometimes painful without being full of angst.
I also applaud Marie for delving, at least somewhat, into the social climate of Germany, Switzerland, and the Austro-Hungarian empire of the time. I wasn't familiar with Eastern European culture before reading this book, and while I knew a little of the prejudice ethnic groups like Serbians faced, I didn't know much about that, either. Marie taught me a lot without being pedantic or dry, and without driving it into my head that bigotry was a huge obstacle for the Einsteins. In fact, the constant presence and "normality" of anti-Serbian attitudes, anti-Semitism, anti-feminism and the rest made it all the more jarring. I even caught glimpses of what Germany, Austria, and fellow countries would face in the ensuing half-century.
Finally, I appreciate Marie's work in delving into a character, a real person, about whom history tells us almost nothing. Under her hand, Mileva Maric Einstein becomes relatable. She enjoys the same things modern women do, like hanging out at coffee houses or visiting beautiful forest haunts, with her own spin on that enjoyment thanks to her prodigy status. She looks for God in science and science in God, and has to struggle to form her own identity and philosophy after being told, "You can only do certain things, fit into certain places, accomplish what is approved." Not only Mileva herself, but the people and settings around her, written with such detail, carried the story for me.
Okay, so what's the problem? Well, "problem" kind of depends on who you ask. For me, about halfway through and even before that, The Other Einstein became tediously slow. Mileva was growing, events were happening...and yet she always seemed acted upon, not like a self-determined person. Part of that is probably her time period; no such thing as politically correct history, after all. But also, her character voice became bogged down. Telling over showing, a hazard of first-person POV, eventually became a problem, as did some obvious and sensory phrases. For example, during a scene where Mileva is infuriated, she straight up says, "I felt rage."
Additionally, it seems odd, but I didn't like the presence of Einstein in this story. I don't know much about him personally, so Marie's portrait may well have been accurate. That wasn't my issue. My issue was that I could see where his and Mileva's relationship was going a mile away, and thus, what the lesson or point of the book would be. Combine that with the ever-slowing pace, and I got bored and disappointed.
With this said, the things I didn't like about The Other Einstein were probably down to Marie's stylistic choices. If you're a fan of her writing style, you'll probably love the book, and as noted, there's a lot to like regardless. I'm disappointed The Other Einstein wasn't a favorite, but willing to try more like it and recommend it to particular audiences. My recommendation is stronger if, like me, you enjoy stories of smart or prodigy women, or women with unusual talents or circumstances, making their way in what was and sometimes still is a man's world.
make the Nobel price, she was brilliant in mathematics also. It was a sad story, when I learned that they marriage was broken.
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