When the Nightingale Sings
When the Nightingale Sings tells the fictionalised life of real-life scientist Joan Curran and Hollywood film star, Hedy Lamarr. The novel explores the senseless loss of life during war and how scientific developments meant for good can equally be employed for less righteous purposes.
Hedy, after escaping her manipulative husband, makes her way to Hollywood and fame, but her wish is to be recognised for herself and her scientific genius, which we must all thank for the wireless technology used in cell phones today. Judy Jenkins (a fictional version of Joan Curran) begins her career at Cavendish Labs in Cambridge, working on the proximity fuse, inventing chaff, and later assisting on the Manhattan Project, which causes a unbreachable rift in the women’s longstanding friendship. The novel takes readers through WWII, Judy living through dangerous times, and Hedy basking in the luxurious but superficial paradise of California and yearning for more.
The story is well told, often through letters, but I didn’t always feel a connection to the characters, and I would have preferred less one-off Hollywood name-dropping. There are interesting contrasts to observe: ordinariness vs. glamour, sunny California vs. damp dreary England, British shyness vs. American boldness. But Hedy (Hedwig Kiesler) was Austrian-born, so there analogies as well; both women are European and dedicated to seeing the end of Hitler’s tsunami of destruction, both have brilliant scientific minds, both want to be recognised and loved for themselves. Judy achieves this with her deep and lasting relationship with husband Tom, but in contrast, Hedy, married and divorced six times, sadly never found that elusive affection which could see beyond her physical allure. The author encourages readers to research both women’s remarkable lives: women ahead of their time and achieving recognition only after their deaths.
