The Other Einstein: A novel

Mrs. Hurwitz, one of Mileva’s only friends in Zürich, visits her, along with her daughter, Lisbeth. They’ve come to check in on her because she skipped their scheduled evening together due to a “toothache”—the excuse she uses to explain her swollen face after Albert’s abuse. The women immediately see that Mileva doesn’t have tooth issues, and they awkwardly leave to give her privacy.

Albert arrives with a bouquet of flowers, an uncharacteristic gesture of apology. He assures Mileva that he broke things off with Elsa a while ago, and he offers a grand gesture to prove himself: He invites Mileva to Paris to meet her idol, Marie Curie. Despite her despair, she resolves not to miss the opportunity to meet Curie. 

Mileva is shocked by Paris’s sophistication and intellectualism. She is comfortable around Curie, whose gray hair and subdued outfits defy Parisian fashion but remind Mileva of Slavic trends. She notes how charming and easygoing Albert is with Curie, quite like he was when Mileva first met him.

Privately, Curie asks Mileva why she didn’t continue with her career. Marie Curie had a supportive husband who championed her role in the male-dominated science world. Implicit in their conversation is that Albert was not the type of man who would allow for Mileva to continue her career.