I kept being surprised. Normally I think of myself as a good guesser but Rory Clements tripped me up again and again.
There wasn't as much science as I anticipated in a novel about physicists in the forefront of nuclear breakthroughs. Set mostly in Cambridge in the tense period before the outbreak of the Second World War this book seethes with political aims and affiliations, strongly held views and people prepared to break laws, to risk their lives and to hurt others in pursuit of their goals.
There are some strong female characters but our viewpoint remains mostly with Wilde, a history professor who is easy to like with his capacity for strong friendships, his concern for the problems of others and his readiness to investigate and leap into action.
I enjoyed reading Nucleus rather more than I expected and was amazed at the amount of thinking, number of characters and quantity of incidents packed into a story which never seemed breathless or hurried.
There wasn't as much science as I anticipated in a novel about physicists in the forefront of nuclear breakthroughs. Set mostly in Cambridge in the tense period before the outbreak of the Second World War this book seethes with political aims and affiliations, strongly held views and people prepared to break laws, to risk their lives and to hurt others in pursuit of their goals.
There are some strong female characters but our viewpoint remains mostly with Wilde, a history professor who is easy to like with his capacity for strong friendships, his concern for the problems of others and his readiness to investigate and leap into action.
I enjoyed reading Nucleus rather more than I expected and was amazed at the amount of thinking, number of characters and quantity of incidents packed into a story which never seemed breathless or hurried.