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    Universe of Two: A Novel
    Universe of Two: A Novel
    Universe of Two: A Novel
    Audiobook15 hours

    Universe of Two: A Novel

    Written by Stephen P. Kiernan

    Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    From the critically acclaimed author of The Baker’s Secret and The Curiosity comes a novel of conscience, love, and redemption—a fascinating fictionalized account of the life of Charlie Fisk, a gifted mathematician who was drafted into Manhattan Project and ordered against his morals to build the detonator for the atomic bomb. With his musician wife, he spends his postwar life seeking redemption—and they find it together.

    Graduating from Harvard at the height of World War II, brilliant mathematician Charlie Fish is assigned to the Manhattan Project. Working with some of the age’s greatest scientific minds, including J. Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Leo Szilard, Charlie is assigned the task of designing and building the detonator of the atomic bomb.

    As he performs that work Charlie suffers a crisis of conscience, which his wife, Brenda—unaware of the true nature of Charlie’s top-secret task—mistakes as self-doubt. She urges him to set aside his qualms and continue. Once the bombs strike Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the feelings of culpability devastate him and Brenda.

    At the war’s end, Charlie receives a scholarship to pursue a PhD in physics at Stanford—an opportunity he and Brenda hope will allow them a fresh start. But the past proves inescapable. All any of his new colleagues can talk about is the bomb, and what greater atomic weapons might be on the horizon. Haunted by guilt, Charlie and Brenda leave Stanford and decide to dedicate the rest of their lives to making amends for the evil he helped to birth into the world.

    Based on the life of the actual mathematician Charles B. Fisk, Universe of Two combines riveting historical drama with a poignant love story. Stephen Kiernan has conjured a remarkable account of two people struggling to heal their consciences and find peace in a world forever changed.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateAug 4, 2020
    ISBN9780063016019
    Author

    Stephen P. Kiernan

    Stephen P. Kiernan is the author of the novels The Curiosity, The Hummingbird, The Baker's Secret, Universe of Two, and The Glass Chateau. A graduate of Middlebury College, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, he spent more than twenty years as a journalist, winning many award before turning to fiction writing. He has also worked nationwide on improving end of life medical care through greater use of hospice. Kiernan lives in Vermont.

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    Reviews for Universe of Two

    4/5

    70 ratings20 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I was very eager to read this because I loved “The Curiosity”. I knew going into it that it was a fictionalized telling of a man’s life, but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite as factionalized as it is. I fully expected dialogue, scene details, and even characters to be “made up” in order to tell the story, but I didn’t expect the narrator to be a completely made up wife telling the story. It’s very, very, very loosely based on the real person. I would’ve greatly preferred a full on historical fiction book, or a book more reflective of his actual life. What I didn’t care for much is the lukewarm middle ground we’re given here.
    • 5/5
      Excellent character development & story. This was a love story and I related to the challenges faced by the characters.
    • 3/5
      The first half was very slow, but from encouragement from other readers, I continued to read on. It did get a lot better but wished it hadn't taken so long. I really enjoyed his proviso book the Baker's Secret so I was a bit disappointed I did not love Universe of Two more. One of the main criticism I have of this book is that everything was left to the end. Character development as well as the plot. The publisher needs to change the blurb of the book as I don't think it represents the book accurately. It was a decent read, just not a fantastic one like I was hoping.
    • 5/5
      great history, s bit hard to get into at beginning, but so worth it!
    • 3/5
      Something about this book bugged me and largely concerned how the characters were portrayed. Brenda, whose portions of the book are told from the first person, annoyed me, but more problematic, her motivations were never fully explored. Charlie, whose story is told in the third person, always seems a bit distant, but he annoyed me too, especially as he experiences his crisis of conscience, but fails to really put it into words. The book overall was interesting, especially in its descriptions of the Manhattan Project and the debates the scientists held about the morality of what they were doing. Still, throughout, I felt something the could be described as the glaze of contemporary eyes on this piece of past, which fails to capture the spirit and uncertainty of the times.
    • 5/5
      This story sure pulls out a lot of feels and is based at least in part on history. I received this for free and I voluntarily chose to review this. I've given this a 5* rating. Not sure this should be read by the under 18 readers. This whole story is about WW II and the bombing of Japan. This author captures the high emotions of both sides of this event. I must say, I, myself, am torn on this issue. My mother's first fiancé was one of the one's killed at Pearl Harbor. A young man goes for a job, and is lead to do mathematics' work. It goes from there. A good book to do some soul searching for yourself.
    • 5/5
      This is probably the best book I've read based during a war. It held my attention from beginning to end, even though some parts were a bit confusing to me. Even with the confusion - mostly about war and organs - I did learn about both subjects, which is always lovely to me. The alternating perspectives was also a bit confusing until the very end.The character development, for Brenda especially, was great. I couldn't stand her for a good chunk of the book - probably up until the last fourth of the book. I always love characters who recognize their mistakes and work to change things. I also loved the development for her mother. It was heartwarming to watch her soften and act more caring towards her entire family.The writing itself was beautiful. It reminded me a lot of a Nicholas Sparks book, though maybe with a little more depth into certain topics. This was my first book by this author, but with how much I adored this book, I'll absolutely be looking into his others as soon as I can.My favorite thing about this book was the realistic aspect. Kiernan showed the toll war takes on everyone involved - whether that be the partners and family of soldiers or the soldiers themselves. He showed how it can affect marriages, families, and mental health.Overall, this was absolutely a book that was worth reading. I learned a lot about the war, organs, and even relationships. The writing was wonderful, and it felt so real at times that I'd feel as if I were a part of the story myself. The book does contain some sensitive subjects, so it may be best to read with some caution. Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book via JeanBookNerd Tours and am voluntarily leaving a review.
    • 3/5
      Universe of Two is a love story based roughly on the life of Charlie Fisk, a mathematician who was part of the Manhattan Project during WWII. Brenda, just out of high school and hoping to attend a music conservatory, works at the family organ shop in Hyde Park, IL. She meets Charlie who comes into the shop and enjoys listening to Brenda play the organ. Charlie has been brought to Chicago to work on a secret project which even he doesn't fully understand. As Charlie and Brenda's relationship becomes more serious, Charlie is sent to Los Alamos, NM to continue working on a top secret project. Eventually Brenda follows Charlie to NM where they marry. Charlie's work is part of the Manhattan Project and when the nuclear bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he becomes deeply troubled and obsessed with the devastating number of lives that were lost. After Los Alamos Charlie is given the opportunity to further his education/career at Stanford which he ultimately forgoes for a life in the organ business.
    • 4/5
      Mathematician Charlie Fish is put to work in New Mexico on the Manhattan project. His fiancée, Brenda, travels across the country to live in New Mexico, where they can meet up on weekends and at the odd time. Thinking of the implications of his work, Charlie suffers greatly, unsure if he is able to do his part in building the bomb. Left in the dark about his true work, Brenda encourages him to "man up" and "do his part."This book was well written, and engaging. I could not put it down. Both Charlie and Brenda were dynamic and interesting characters. I really felt for their plight, and found myself rooting for them. Overall, well worth picking up.
    • 4/5
      This novel tells a fictionalized account about the life of Charlie Fisk and his wife, Brenda. Much of the story is revealed as Brenda as an old woman looks back at their lives. The story starts in 1943, in Chicago, where Brenda Dubie works in her parents' music store while her father and brother are away in the war effort. Into the store one evening wanders Charlie Fisk, a brilliant mathematician who graduated from Harvard at the age of 18, and is now working for the military at the University of Chicago. Brenda has put her hopes to attend a music conservatory in Ohio on hold for now. But now she plays the organ for Charlie, demonstrating all the many voices the instrument can assume. Soon Brenda and Charlie are spending a great deal of time together, until Charlie is sent to Los Alamos, New Mexico, to work on some top secret military project.The author makes Brenda a very central part of this story, even as Charlie's role in the activities at Los Alamos becomes more clear. The conflict Charlie feels about what he is doing, and where it might lead, also becomes a part of Brenda's life as well. There is much less information about their lives after the war, except some detail about the efforts they made to make positive contributions to the world, to assuage the guilt they both felt.Although I am not a fan of the typical romance story, I enjoyed this retelling of the life and marriage of these two historical figures. This is my second book by Stephen Kiernan, and I like the stories he weaves from the research he undertakes.My thanks to LibraryThing First Reviewers program for the free copy of this book I received.
    • 4/5
      This is a WWII book that focuses on the building of the atomic bomb. Charlie is a mathematician working in Los Alamos and Brenda moves to be with him and play organ at a local church. I thought it was interesting that Charlie was based on a real person.Although I thought I was done reading books about WWII the part of the story that introduces the organ music and repairs makes this one a little different, and I enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the love story of Charlie and Brenda throughout the novel. They each have their own point of view but when they’re together you can feel their love and chemistry even though at first, they both didn’t seem to quite mesh well. But yet it’s realistic in a sense on how a couple first meet. We test each other first and get a feel for things before we really start to reveal who we truly are. This is what you see between Charlie and Brenda and them evolving together is delightful to read.Brenda as a character is brash and hard to like. She acts spoiled and entitled but it’s her strong character that helps Charlie in the long run and exactly what he needs as he progresses through his career. Charlie on the other hand is her opposite; reserved but thoughtful and radiates a quiet intelligence. but it’s nice to see how these two compliment each other and find what they’re missing in their lives. It unexplainably feels right when both of them are together. The plot is told in each of their views with the creation of the atom bombs in the forefront of Charlie’s life. I was concerned at first because I was anticipating a lot of terminology I would not be familiar with. Luckily this doesn’t get complicated and is a simplified version of the creation of these bombs without the lingo. It’s a very interesting plot and unsettling at the same time as we all know the outcome of these bombs. Yet on the other hand it was also interesting to see what happened after the bombs were dropped. The guilt some characters faced, but also those that would capitalize on it to expand the armaments industry. It’s a beautiful love story and a good read. I’m glad I got picked to read this to review! I do recommend this one. It’s beautifully written.
    • 5/5
      As other people have pointed out this book is slow to get started and Charlie seems a little too one dimensional and Brenda a little too mean, but there are hints throughout from Brenda's older self that this is a story worth pursuing, and so it is. For one thing it is a fascinating and horrifying look at how things might have looked on "The Hill" during the development of the Atomic Bomb. It is also a satisfying look at how Brenda develops as a fitting partner to Charlie. It further develops Charlie's character showing his conflicting view of the work he is doing as he fully comes to realize the type of weapon he is helping to develop. Perhaps it takes a little too long for these things to occur but I couldn't stop reading this well done story so I give it a strong thumbs up.
    • 1/5
      I am definitely in the minority for the star rating. I made it to page 150 and gave up. For me I found the story uninteresting especially all the endless pages about Charlie’s job. And Brenda, the girlfriend, drove me nuts! What a baby! She was a snot and verbally mean to poor Charlie. She was self-centered, unhappy , and never grew up. Maybe that is one of the reasons why I didn’t finish. Time to move on! (Solely my opinion. Read it. You may like the story better than me!)
    • 5/5
      This book took me completely by surprise. I really liked Kiernan’s earlier book “The Baker’s Secret” so felt comfortably sure that I would enjoy this one. But I never imagined that a book, inspired by the life of the man that developed the detonator for the atom bomb, would, or even could, contain such beautiful writing and feelings of such tenderness. My heart really felt as though it would break for Charlie as he struggled with his consciousness for creating a device – the Gadget - that took so many lives. The story opens with Charlie’s musician wife Brenda looking back on her life with Charlie. I could sense the moments of regret she had for not always appreciating Charlie for his best qualities. Then their love story plays out throughout the rest of the book.But this book is much more than a love story. While one side of Charlie was the mathematician, he also had a strongly sensitive side that loved working on organs. Yes, organs. He later went on to build organs. I learned quite a bit about the beauty and complexity of the organ as I read the book. But I also enjoyed the chapters that dealt with the scientific work Charlie did. Charlie’s feelings of guilt and redemption were remarkably balanced.“…the greatest kinds of strength are hidden, and move slowly, and cannot be stopped by anything until they have changed the world. Which he did twice.”The character development was superb, giving a vast array of people who were a part of Charlie and Brenda’s life. All the characters were presented in ways that I actually had an emotional response to them, whether it was Charlie’s fellow workers – some of whom also dealt with their own moral dilemmas - or the townspeople who engaged more with Brenda. The townspeople, who provided the support services, for the men “on the Hill” had no idea what was being developed. They all felt completely authentic with their strengths and their flaws. "Whatever you love, no matter how fiercely, you will lose it one day. That is the only certainty. Therefore be as kind as you can."Thanks to the publisher William Morrow for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It was an interesting look into the world of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. Interwoven with a love story it was something different for those who are fans of WWII historical fiction. The science and peek into the moral issues and struggle of the scientists working on the atomic bomb was interesting to read about.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book from start to finish. The beginning pulled me in, and the ending moved me. Brenda sometimes got on my nerves, but I really enjoyed seeing her growth throughout the story, as well as the development of her relationship with Charlie. Just a word about the description of this book: It sounds as if the story is equally split between Charlies' work and his search for redemption after the war. Actually, the large majority of the story is about his work on the Manhattan Project (and the love story that grows around it), with just a small section dedicated to after the war. I didn't mind, but I mention this in case someone feels misled by the description.Thank you to LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program for the early read.
    • 4/5
      This is a quite interesting novel very loosely based on the life of Charles Fisk, who worked on the design of the detonator for the atomic bomb in the 1940’s. I’m not usually fond of historical novels that include more fiction than fact but I did enjoy this one. There’s also the love story between Charles and Brenda, which I wasn’t that fond of. What I found most fascinating about this book was when it focused on Charles’ dawning realization of just what he was working on and what implications it could have on this world. Recommended.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. I inhaled this book. I read it in one day. Beautiful characters you could get behind and root for. Subject matter so interesting. Weaving organ music into The Manhattan Project so deftly was genius.
    • 5/5
      I have read all of Stephen Kiernan's books so I knew I was going to enjoy Universe of Two before I turned the first page. What I didn't realize was how deeply the book would affect me and that I'd still be thinking about it a week after I finished it. This is a beautifully written book about love and guilt and redemption.The year is 1943 and Charlie meets Brenda when he comes into the music store that her mother owns and she works at. At first, she didn't think much of him. She was more interested in all of the soldiers on leave who wanted to dance and pay attention to her. Charlie wasn't very impressive when he first asked Brenda to play a song for him on the organ but as he kept coming in to the store, she found herself looking forward to his visits. Charlie was a Harvard graduate, a brilliant mathematician and was working for the government on the Manhattan Project. He had no idea exactly what he was working on and only knew his small part of the entire project with the rest being kept in secret. When he is sent to Los Alamos, he and Brenda plan to write to each other but that was a poor substitute for being together so she joins him in New Mexico. Charlie knew that he was working on a project for the government but had no idea that they were creating the first atomic bomb. He only knew that he was creating a detonator. Once he realized what the project was all about, he wanted to quit when he understood the possible devastation of this bomb. Once the bombs strike Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the feelings of culpability devastate him and Brenda. When the war is over, the government agrees to pay for him to go to Stanford to get his doctorate but he finds everyone excited about the possibilities of atomic energy and realizes that he doesn't want to be part of it. He quit school and he and Brenda look for a career that will bring joy into the world and help to ease the guilt they feel over his part in building the atomic bomb.The writing in this book is exquisite and the characters are multi-dimensional - the reader sees the good and the bad in the two main characters. My prediction is that this will be a very popular spring 2020 novel. I already know that it will be in my top 10 books for the year.Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.