Love on the Brain

The book begins with Dr. Bee Königswasser, the protagonist, recounting an incident from Dr. Marie Skłodowska-Curie’s life, where she arrived at her wedding in her lab coat. Curie married Pierre Curie after she was rejected for a faculty position at the University of Krakow because she was a woman; this led her to remain in France, where Pierre was, leading them to eventually marry in 1895. Ten years later, Pierre died in an accident, leaving Marie to raise their two daughters alone. Bee uses this story to assert that “trusting people to stick around is a bad idea” (2); she reveals that her own ex-fiancé cheated on her with her best friend six months before their wedding. The one thing that never abandoned Curie was her accomplishments and her curiosity, which is why Bee is thrilled to have been chosen by NASA as a lead scientist on one of their most prestigious neuroengineering projects, BLINK.

Upon receiving this news, Bee celebrates over the weekend with a host of activities, including changing her hair color from pink to purple and downloading a Couch-to-5K training plan. She will be working on designing gear that astronauts will use in space and knows the role could potentially lead to a long-term contract and an eventual independent lab for her own research.