The Physicists' Daughter

by Mary Anna Evans

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Physicists’ Daughter is a WW2 era romance/espionage/mystery by Mary Anna Evans. Released 7th June 2022 by Poisoned Pen Press, it's 352 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a competently written historical romance and slice-of-life story set in Louisiana around the daily lives of some of the women who have taken jobs which were traditionally given to men in the defense industry. There are several disparate plot threads, including some espionage and skullduggery. The mystery parts of the plot are generally secondary to the romance and historical fiction parts but there's an engaging and ongoing development through the characters which kept me interested and reading to the end.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 10 hours and 39 minutes and is capably narrated by Kimberly Wetherell. The narrator has a clear and pleasantly warm voice which is easy to listen to. Many of the characters have very distinct regional accents, including Polish and Lousiana/bayou. The narrator gave a good attempt, but was not always entirely successful. The non-accented narration was fine and enjoyable. Sound and production quality were high throughout the recording.

Four stars. Recommended mostly for fans of women's historical fiction and wartime romance, not so much for mystery or espionage fans.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.