I was delighted to receive this book as I recently visited Los Alamos when visiting family and granddaughter in the US. The road trip holiday we had took us to New Mexico and Santa Fe, and we went to Los Alamos to visit the museum there. So, I started reading this book with excitement and anticipation. Yes, the descriptions of the amazing sparse mountainous desert were all there, and I felt as though I was really into the story very quickly because I could picture so much of the place as I read.
The anonymous PO Box which was the address is all true and TaraShea has done a brilliant job with the research. Having watched a film at the museum, the description of Oppenheimer in his pork pie hat is spot on.
I was a bit disconcerted at first by the collective "we" method of telling the story, but on reflection found it an interesting device to use to convey the all in it togetherness of the wives in that situation. I'd like to ask TaraShea if
a) She chose the collective voice deliberately as a kind of Greek chorus to tell the story. It also reminded me of the chorus of women who tell the story in T.S.Eliot's play "Murder in the Cathedral".
b) Did she visit Los Alamos and the museum and the surrounding area? I think she must have done as she describes the New Mexico desert so well and conveys a realistic feel of what it's like there.
I really liked the bitchy catty snippet about the women who "accidentally" forgot not to flush the loo when water was short, just to annoy the hostess. That was very real. (no I wouldn't do anything like that!)
Thank you, I enjoyed it very much.