"The Atomic City Girls is a fascinating and compelling novel about a little-known piece of WWII history."—Maggie Leffler, international bestselling author of The Secrets of Flight
In the bestselling tradition of Hidden Figures and The Wives of Los Alamos, comes this riveting novel of the everyday people who worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II.
In November 1944, eighteen-year-old June Walker boards an unmarked bus, destined for a city that doesn’t officially exist. Oak Ridge, Tennessee has sprung up in a matter of months—a town of trailers and segregated houses, 24-hour cafeterias, and constant security checks. There, June joins hundreds of other young girls operating massive machines whose purpose is never explained. They know they are helping to win the war, but must ask no questions and reveal nothing to outsiders. 
The girls spend their evenings socializing and flirting with soldiers, scientists, and workmen at dances and movies, bowling alleys and canteens. June longs to know more about their top-secret assignment and begins an affair with Sam Cantor, the young Jewish physicist from New York who oversees the lab where she works and understands the end goal only too well, while her beautiful roommate Cici is on her own mission: to find a wealthy husband and escape her sharecropper roots. Across town, African-American construction worker Joe Brewer knows nothing of the government’s plans, only that his new job pays enough to make it worth leaving his family behind, at least for now. But a breach in security will intertwine his fate with June’s search for answers. 
When the bombing of Hiroshima brings the truth about Oak Ridge into devastating focus, June must confront her ideals about loyalty, patriotism, and war itself.

The Atomic City Girls: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

Beard, Janet

United States

William Morrow Paperbacks

William Morrow Large Print

“A thoroughly engaging read by an enormously gifted storyteller.”—Julie Mars
In 1957, Mary Alice was a rebellious teenager in love with a rich Yankee boy who had just moved to her small Virginia mountain town—much to the chagrin of her God-fearing mother, Lavinia. By 2004, Mary Alice has become a spinster biology teacher who hasn’t spoken to her mother in over forty years.
When Lavinia dies, Mary Alice’s niece, Claire, inherits the family house and moves to Virginia, bringing along a deep curiosity about her family’s dark past—and plenty of emotional baggage of her own.

Beneath the Pines

Contemporary

Two Dollar Radio

Review "The Ballad of Laurel Springs sets the resonant violence of family secrets to the music of the mountains. With tenderness and grit, Janet Beard celebrates the harmonies of survival that run generations deep. Never has it felt more necessary--or more electric--for a story to be heard through song." --Amy Jo Burns, author of Cinderland and Shiner"Lyrical, atmospheric and deeply moving, Janet Beard's new novel, The Ballad of Laurel Springs, explores the legacies--of passion and violence, music and faith--that haunt one family across the generations. A gifted storyteller, Beard brings her native East Tennessee to life with grace and empathy. This book is a stunner." --Jillian Medoff, author of This Could Hurt Product Description From the internationally bestselling author of The Atomic City Girls, a provocative new novel about multiple generations of women in one East Tennessee family haunted by violence and redeemed by their rich inheritance of folk music.Ten-year-old Grace is in search of a subject for her fifth-grade history project when she learns that her four times-great grandfather once stabbed his lover to death. His grisly act was memorialized in a murder ballad, her aunt tells her, so it must be true. But the lessons of that revelation--to be careful of men, and desire--are not just Grace's to learn. Her family's tangled past is part of a dark legacy in which the lives of generations of women are affected by the violence immortalized in folksongs like "Knoxville Girl" and "Pretty Polly" reminding them always to know their place--or risk the wages of sin. Janet Beard's stirring novel, informed by her love of these haunting ballads, vividly imagines these women, defined by the secrets they keep, the surprises they uncover, and the lurking sense of menace that follows them throughout their lives. With the same rich sense of place as Bloodroot or Serena, The Ballad of Laurel Springs is an unforgettable portrait of women fighting to make a safe place in the world for themselves and the people they love. About the Author Born and raised in East Tennessee, Janet Beard studied screenwriting at NYU and went on to earn an MFA in creative writing from The New School. She is the bestselling author of The Atomic City Girls and The Ballad of Laurel Springs. She currently lives in Columbus, Ohio.

The Ballad of Laurel Springs

Genre Fiction

Thorndike Press Large Print

From the internationally bestselling author of The Atomic City Girls, a provocative novel set in eastern Tennessee that "explores the legacies--of passion and violence, music and faith--that haunt one family across the generations" (Jillian Medoff, author of This Could Hurt). Ten-year-old Grace is in search of a subject for her fifth-grade history project when she learns that her four times-great grandfather once stabbed his lover to death. His grisly act was memorialized in a murder ballad, her aunt tells her, so it must be true. But the lessons of that revelation--to be careful of men and desire--are not just Grace's to learn. Her family's tangled past is part of a dark legacy in which the lives of generations of women are affected by the violence immortalized in folksongs like "Knoxville Girl" and "Pretty Polly" reminding them always to know their place--or risk the wages of sin. Janet Beard's stirring novel, informed by her love of these haunting ballads, vividly imagines these women, defined by the secrets they keep, the surprises they uncover, and the lurking sense of menace that follows them throughout their lives even as they try to make a safe place in the world for themselves. "This inspired story of Appalachian folklore" (Publishers Weekly) will move and rouse you.

GALLERY BOOKS

From the internationally bestselling author of The Atomic City Girls, a provocative novel set in eastern Tennessee that "explores the legacies--of passion and violence, music and faith--that haunt one family across the generations" (Jillian Medoff, author of This Could Hurt). Ten-year-old Grace is in search of a subject for her fifth-grade history project when she learns that her four times-great grandfather once stabbed his lover to death. His grisly act was memorialized in a murder ballad, her aunt tells her, so it must be true. But the lessons of that revelation--to be careful of men and desire--are not just Grace's to learn. Her family's tangled past is part of a dark legacy in which the lives of generations of women are affected by the violence immortalized in folk songs like "Knoxville Girl" and "Pretty Polly" reminding them always to know their place--or risk the wages of sin. Janet Beard's stirring novel, informed by her love of these haunting ballads, vividly imagines these women, defined by the secrets they keep, the surprises they uncover, and the lurking sense of menace that follows them throughout their lives even as they try to make a safe place in the world for themselves. "This inspired story of Appalachian folklore" (Publishers Weekly) will move and rouse you.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Beard, Janet. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Beard, Janet

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Beard, Janet. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Atomic City Girls: A Novel

The Atomic City Girls: A Novel

Beneath the Pines

The Ballad of Laurel Springs

The Ballad of Laurel Springs

The Ballad of Laurel Springs