If You Are There

November 15, 2016
The allegiances of a Polish servant are divided between Nobel Prize-winning physicist Marie Curie and well-known medium Eusapia Palladino. Like the spirits in the seances it describes, the plot in Sherman's (The Little Russian, 2012) second novel is slow to materialize. Its central character, Lucia Rutkowska, is tracked lengthily from her unhappy Polish origins through her escape to Paris and her eventual job as maid and cook to a poor family with Polish roots, namely the Curies, to whom she becomes devoted. Paris in 1902 is a place of intellectual ferment, and people are just as interested in the strange energy manifested at seances as they are in the work of the rare lady scientist Marie Curie--"a Polish governess who marries a Frenchman, discovers radium, and receives a doctorate from the Sorbonne." Struggling Parisian journalist Gabriel Richet has a different take on these facts and fads. His older brother, Charles, a physiologist running experiments on spiritualists, wants him to photograph the mediums at work, while his newspaper wants an article on the Curies. Sherman's tale is a feast of detail and description, from the dangerous drudgery of the Curies' work creating radioactive matter to the trickery behind the table-turning and ectoplasmic effects at the seances. Yet the pace and integration of her plot seem less focused. Lucia develops a friendship with Gabriel which waxes and wanes, as does her allegiance to the Curies. After attending a seance in Madame Curie's stead, Lucia falls under the spell of Eusapia (like Curie, an actual historical figure), and she quits her job to become the medium's companion. A final tragedy will juxtapose the scientific and the psychical while leaving the question of what to believe open. Evocative yet oblique, this meandering tale creates an intriguing milieu while leaving its confrontation between science and spirituality unresolved.

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November 15, 2016
Lucia Rutkowski has left behind a life as a factory worker in Poland and traveled to Paris to work as a maid. After working a few positions, she begins keeping house for the eccentric but brilliant scientists, Pierre and Marie Curie. Though intensely focused on their own research, the Curies dabble in psychical research as well and occasionally attend seances with reputable mediums. One night, Lucia is asked to fill Marie's spot at a seance and bonds with the famous medium, Eusapia Palladino. Soon after, Palladino asks Lucia to accompany her on a trip which evolves into an offer of a long-term position as her companion. Devoutly Catholic, Lucia resists, but the allure of such a life and higher station is strong. Soon, Lucia struggles to reconcile her own beliefs with what she experiences in Palladino's seances. Sherman's (The Little Russian, 2012) story line encompasses a wide range of subjects and characters, and many scenarios are left realistically unresolved. The bold, incandescent descriptions of seances are where Sherman's art truly shines.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)