Mileva Marić is born with a disability; in her culture that means that no one will consider her for marriage. Mileva is very good at maths and starts studying at Zürich Polytechnic where she meets Albert Einstein. He woos her, but when she falls pregnant he drags his feet when it comes to marriage. Mileva leaves Zürich Polytechnic and moves back to her hometown. Their daughter Lieserl is born in Novi Sad in the Austrian-Hungarian empire (current day Serbia) in 1902. After Lieserl is born, Albert urges Mileva to come to him in Bern without the child. When she gets to Bern, the couple marries. Mileva misses her mathematics and she really misses her child. After a year in Bern, Mileva receives an urgent message from her parents: Lieserl is gravely ill. Mileva hurries to her daughter’s sickbed. Unfortunately, Lieserl has contracted scarlet fever and dies. Not surprisingly , Mileva is heartbroken and suffers from depression. Once she returns to Albert, they have two sons, but Mileva never really recovers from the grief over Lieserl’s death.
Albert and Mileva collaborate on Albert’s work, but when he publishes, he omits her name on the papers. I think this is where she starts resenting him. When she finds out he has an affair with his cousin, Mileva demands a divorce.
This is biographical fiction and so hope that Albert Einstein was a nicer bloke in real life. As the book is told from Mileva’s point of view it may be coloured. However, the fact that he never met his daughter Lieserl, or even acknowledged her existence doesn’t make him a nice human being. He’s fallen off his pedestal for me.
Mileva Marić deserves more recognition!
Read for the Read Between the Lines Reading Challenge 2026
Prompt 45: A Book About the Spouse of a Celebrity
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️