For my book club last night, we discussed Mark Kelley’s Rain of Ruin. He joined us for the evening.

Rain of Ruin is the fictionalized account of Mark’s mother, Agnes, and her experience as a secretary for the Manhattan Project. Mark explained last night that he had wanted to write a biography, but instead chose to write a novel because his mother did not share all details with him. (Her work was obviously highly-classified, and most records have been destroyed.)

In school I learned about the Manhattan Project, but I never thought about the individual people who were involved. Many of the people had no idea what they were working on, or the potential dangers. Rain of Ruin made history more personal for me, especially since Agnes was from Pennsylvania.  Mark mentioned a recent book along similar lines- The Girls of Atomic City that I think I’m adding to my list.