Radium HalosThis is a fictional book, but is based on real facts, specifically a court case centering around women who painted the faces of watches with radium. Needless to say, this led to many health problems. A woman (Helen Waterman, 65) in the hospital narrates the story. The novel moves like human thought does at time, from the present to the past suddenly, then back to the present. Helen and Violet are told about jobs available at a Radium Dial Factory, so they interview there and get the jobs. Their task is to paint the numbers on clock faces using radium paint. In the present, we find that Helen has a niece named Pearl whose mother was Violet and she's trying to find out how Violet died to respond to a letter from a laboratory that wants to dig up Violet's bones and test them. Helen doesn't want to admit to their working at the Radium Dial Factory. It turns out there is a solid reason why she doesn't want to admit that. Something that might slip people's attention was the reference to the area around the plant where various animals are described as 'defective.' This might have been tied in to the radiation at the plant. Helen has been in a hospital for mental problems for quite a while. Violet is dead and so are a lot of the women that worked at the plant. There seems to be some guy sort-of stalking Helen. Then her present life gets more complicated as she ends up living with different people, learns what kind of scum some guys can be, and keeps putting off a request by a hospital that is investigating the factory women to come in and have tests for radiation exposure. There's quite a bit in this book, not just the radium problem itself. It's a very good book, although some of the descriptions of what happened to some of the women may prove upsetting to the reader. |