The Other Einstein: A Novel

From beloved New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Marie Benedict comes the story of a not-so-famous scientist who not only loved Albert Einstein, but also shaped the theories that brought him lasting renown.

In the tradition of Beatriz Williams and Paula McClain, Marie Benedict's The Other Einstein offers us a window into a brilliant, fascinating woman whose light was lost in Einstein's enormous shadow. This novel resurrects Einstein's wife, a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose contribution to the special theory of relativity is hotly debated. Was she simply Einstein's sounding board, an assistant performing complex mathematical equations? Or did she contribute something more?

Mitza Maric has always been a little different from other girls. Most twenty-year-olds are wives by now, not studying physics at an elite Zurich university with only male students trying to outdo her clever calculations. But Mitza is smart enough to know that, for her, math is an easier path than marriage. Then fellow student Albert Einstein takes an interest in her, and the world turns sideways. Theirs becomes a partnership of the mind and of the heart, but there might not be room for more than one genius in a marriage.

Marie Benedict illuminates one pioneering woman in STEM, returning her to the forefront of history's most famous scientists.

"The Other Einstein takes you into Mileva's heart, mind, and study as she tries to forge a place for herself in a scientific world dominated by men."--Bustle

Recommended by PopSugar, Bustle, Booklist, Library Journal and more!

Other Bestselling Historical Fiction from Marie Benedict:

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie

The Only Woman in the Room

Lady Clementine

Carnegie's Maid

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336 pages

Average rating: 7.6

244 RATINGS

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8 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

Anonymous
Dec 12, 2024
8/10 stars
I’m troubled by the liberties the author may have taken, and more troubled if they are actually factual. Otherwise great story about a figure nearly lost to history.
Shamal Beltangady
Dec 06, 2024
8/10 stars
A well written book about the brilliant yet rather conflicted woman who was easily used and manipulated by her husband Albert to pursue his own ambitions and aspirations. Loved that she finally left him and got his Nobel prize money which she rightfully deserved for her own contributions to Science.
amHeadrick
Aug 25, 2024
8/10 stars
Very good bio of the Einsteins. He was a cad like most men. I felt really sorry for his wife who is the “Other”. Good read.
GymnasticsFan
Feb 19, 2024
6/10 stars
I'm not often bothered by language in historical fiction that doesn't fit the time period. But a young woman ending a sentence with an unnecessary "you know?" in 1897 annoyed me. I probably wouldn't have finished the book if it was about fictional characters, but I don't know anything about Einstein's personal life, so suffered through.
margardenlady
Dec 27, 2023
8/10 stars
Argh! Misogyny. This story is fiction but based on the actual letters and other documentation of the life of Mileva Marić, a brilliant physics student who braved ridicule and discrimination to attend university in Zurich just before WWI. She fell in love with Einstein and subsumed her professional life and intelligence too become his wife and mother to their two sons. She is an inspiring woman!

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