Oh Pure and Radiant Heart

Lydia Millet's novel tells an extraordinary story of the three scientistswho formed the core of the team that developed the atomic bomb. With theexploding of the first bomb in Nevada, Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard andEnrico Fermi are transported to today's America. As they gradually realisewhat has happened to them, all three are consumed by guilt at the impactof their brainchild. At first the only person who believes they are whothey say they are is a librarian who recognises Oppenheimer from hisphotograph in a book. With her they travel to Hiroshima, Nagasaki andBikini, in the footsteps of the bomb itself, on a journey of atonementwhich eventually leads them to organise a protest march from Nevada toWashington DC. As the media increasingly respond to their presence and their claims, anever stranger crowd of followers gather round the three scientists, firstof young leftists, subsequently of fundamentalist Christians, some of whomsee Oppenheimer as Messiah, leading to a climactic apothesis that is bothutterly surreal and movingly beautiful.