Half Life cover art

Half Life

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Half Life

By: Jillian Cantor
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

A brilliant sliding-doors reimagining of the passionate life of the first woman to win a Nobel Prize - and the life Marie Curie might have led if she had chosen love over science.

Poland, 1891. Marie Curie (then Marya Sklodowska) was engaged to a budding mathematician, Kazimierz Zorawski. But when his mother insisted Marya was not good enough, he broke off the engagement. A heartbroken Marya left Poland for Paris to study chemistry and physics at the Sorbonne. Marie would go on to change the course of science forever and become the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.

But what if Marie had made a different choice?

What if she had stayed in Poland, married Kazimierz, and never attended the Sorbonne or discovered radium? What if Marie had chosen her first love and a life of domesticity, still ravenous for knowledge in Russian Poland where education for women was restricted, instead of studying science in Paris and meeting Pierre Curie?

Seamlessly entwining the lives of Marya and Marie, Half Life is a powerful story of love and friendship, motherhood and sisterhood, fame and anonymity - and a woman destined to change the world.

©2021 Jillian Cantor (P)2021 Simon & Schuster Audio Biographical Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Biography Heartfelt
All stars
Most relevant  
Thank you Jillian, you simultaneously educated and entertained us with the life storey and what if of Marie Curie. How clever to write a non-fiction and fiction book without loosing us but keeping us engaged at every passing chapter. Cassandra Campbell elevated our audio experience with her beautiful accents of the french and polish characters! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

A beautiful rendition of Marie Curie

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I knew little about Marie Curie and thoroughly enjoyed this historical novel with a parallel story of what might have been. I did take a while to work out what was going on. Maybe it would have been easier as a book. I had initial reservations about a North American narrating this but was impressed by heritability to drop into a French and Polish accent. She also added personality to the various characters. I rate this book highly both for it's historical accuracy and feminist perspective. Itscdibjrct a true heroine of her time. I am in awe of this female icon. The author creates convincing and vibrant personalities. This turns MC into a real person to whom we can relate and makes what she did professionally even more meaningful.

Interesting perspective of a remarkable woman.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This historically factional - what if for life choices - was interestingly done. I feel the Author's note may have been more useful at the beginning as the back and forth between the chapter with different protagonist was confusing to keep track of between listening intervals as their lives became more and more closely aligned. 🤔 Perhaps in a visual text, pages can be referred back to...

Determination and dedication

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wow what a grate book I love the facts and fiction mix wasnt she an amazing Person Thank you Jillian & Thank you Cassandra Cambell for reading to me I really appreciate that 💜💜💜💜💜

Half Life by Jillian Cantor

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I could not get further than the first couple of chapters in this book. I am always interested in historical fiction but there is so much to-ing and fro-ing between Marie's Polish love interest and Pierre Curie that I just lost count of where we were in the story- which progresses with mind-numbing slowness, containing nothing of interest historically or otherwise. A reluctant return.

Sluggish

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.