During World War II, Rosalind Porter enjoyed professional success as a scientist, working on nuclear projects alongside a team of equally brilliant men. But since 1945, she has been haunted by two things: abrupt abandonment by her British lover Thomas Weaver, a fellow scientist, and the destruction caused by the atomic bomb they both helped build. In her fifth novel, Atomic Love, Jennie Fields picks up Rosalind's story in 1950, when Weaver resurfaces, pleading with her to see him. As Weaver begins courting her, so does the FBI: they believe he might be selling nuclear secrets to the Russians. Rosalind must walk a fine line as she wrestles with how to help her country and protect her own heart.
Fields (The Age of Desire) sets her story in postwar Chicago, where Rosalind--driven out of the lab by a damning report, written by Weaver--is selling jewelry at a department store. Charlie Szydlo, the FBI agent assigned to Rosalind's case, is facing struggles of his own, including nightmares of his time as a POW in the Philippines and Japan. As Charlie and Rosalind work together to uncover Weaver's secrets, the attraction between them complicates matters, yet gives them hope for a second chance at happiness. Fields sensitively depicts the layered dynamic between Charlie and Rosalind, as well as Rosalind's fraught relationship with her sister (who is facing marriage difficulties) and Charlie's battle to leave his war experience behind. Atomic Love is a twisty, compelling story of science, passion and conflicting loyalties. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams