
Atomic Anna
by Rachel Barenbaum
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Pub Date 05 Apr 2022 | Archive Date 04 May 2022

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Description
Named a Most Anticipated Book by Bookish
Named a Best Book of the Month by Buzzfeed
"The novel is masterfully plotted.”—New York Times Book Review
“Atomic Anna is a dazzling work of ingenuity and imagination.”―Téa Obreht,National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Inland
From the author of A Bend in the Stars, an epic adventure as three generations of women work together and travel through time to prevent the Chernobyl disaster and right the wrongs of their past.
Three brilliant women.
Two life-changing mistakes.
One chance to reset the future.
In 1986, renowned nuclear scientist, Anna Berkova, is sleeping in her bed in the Soviet Union when Chernobyl’s reactor melts down. It’s the exact moment she tears through time—and it’s an accident. When she opens her eyes, she’s landed in 1992 only to discover Molly, her estranged daughter, shot in the chest. Molly, with her dying breath, begs Anna to go back in time and stop the disaster, to save Molly’s daughter Raisa, and put their family’s future on a better path.
In ‘60s Philadelphia, Molly is coming of age as an adopted refusenik. Her family is full of secrets and a past they won’t share. She finds solace in comic books, drawing her own series, Atomic Anna, and she’s determined to make it as an artist. When she meets the volatile, charismatic Viktor, their romance sets her life on a very different course.
In the ‘80s, Raisa, is a lonely teen and math prodigy, until a quiet, handsome boy moves in across the street and an odd old woman shows up claiming to be her biological grandmother. As Raisa finds new issues of Atomic Anna in unexpected places, she notices each comic challenges her to solve equations leading to one impossible conclusion: time travel. And she finally understands what she has to do.
As these remarkable women work together to prevent the greatest nuclear disaster of the 20th century, they grapple with the power their discoveries hold. Just because you can change the past, does it mean you should?
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781538734865 |
PRICE | $28.00 (USD) |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews

I absolutely *love* this book! Barenbaum has written a stunning epic about three generations of time-traveling women using their heads and their hearts to change their lives and the history of the world. This is a gorgeously-written story of family, science, love, and an abiding faith in something better. I can't wait to recommend ATOMIC ANNA to every reader I know!

Atomic Anna is an exciting ride! While deftly looping us through her time travel adventure, Atomic Anna strives to correct her failures both catastrophic and personal. Sometimes joyful, often tragic, the heroines redefine destiny and overcoming tragedy. Time travel and its opportunities and risks are deftly told through this intergenerational epic. I cannot wait to share Atomic Anna!

Loved the writing style and the crazy engaging storyline! The author really puts you in the MC’s shoes.

2.5 stars rounded up.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me access to this book in exchange for my honest review.
This book disappointed me because the promotional materials portrayed it as a work of historical fiction. I love historical fiction, particularly that set during the cold war, and the novel focused little on the historical details that are actually intriguing to me. Readers who enjoy science fiction and science ethics novels are the target demographic here.
This book deals with drug addiction, and eventually this became too much for me to bear as a reader. I wish I had a better understanding of the book before choosing to read because it just made me feel depressed.