by Kate Moore
The year is 1917, and hundreds of young women work in radium dial factories across America, painting watch faces with glowing paint. They dip their brushes in radium powder, point the tips with their lips, and paint tiny numbers that will shine in the dark. The work pays well and the girls feel lucky to have such coveted positions during wartime. They even glow faintly when they leave work each day, covered in radium dust from head to toe. But soon the women begin falling ill with mysterious symptoms. Their jaws deteriorate, their bones break, and their bodies fail them in horrifying ways. When they try to seek compensation from their employers, the companies deny any connection between the radium and their illnesses. The factory owners suppress medical evidence and fight the women in court. These brave workers must battle powerful corporations while their own bodies betray them, fighting not just for their lives but for the safety of future generations of workers.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, non-fiction, biography-memoir, activism, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: corporate-corruption, underdog
Setting: America
Period: 1917
ebook
Content warnings: death, medical-trauma