The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

I almost don’t know where to begin because The Radium Girls is a tragic story.  It is probably one of the most difficult books, emotionally, I have ever read.  It is the true story of the young women who worked in factories that applied a luminous Radium paint onto watch dials so they would glow. Of course, the women did not know it was dangerous and their employers went out of their way to make sure they remained ignorant of the facts. Their struggle to get answers about why they were so sick and get justice once they discovered it was caused by the Radium is inspiring.

For these “girls”, some as young as fourteen, it was a dream of a job. The pay was excellent and to be working with the wondrous new element Radium, that almost every day some new benefit was found, was an added benefit. You were indeed lucky to be hired on to work in the painting studio. The Radium dust settled in the women’s hair and clothes causing them to glow. Everyone wanted to be one of the alluring luminous Radium girls. Even some privileged girls would work for a short period of time to experience it.

Knowing what we do today about Radium, I cringed when reading how the women would paint their clothes with the luminous paint before going out so they would glow and how they would lip point (shape the brush with their mouth) the brush to make it easier to paint the small dials. Then I would grit my teeth and want to strangle the owners and executives at the companies who produced the dials because they knew they were poisoning these women yet did nothing and lied because the dollar was more important than the lives of these women.

The research that went into this book was impeccable. The stories of the different women flowed beautifully with the facts. The light this book shines on these courageous women is dazzling.  These women had a tale to be told and I, for one, am glad someone did so eloquently.  This is a must read for everyone.

I received an ARC from Sourcebooks, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest opinion.