Luminous

The Story of a Radium Girl

By: Samantha Wilcoxson

Narrated by: Joanne Joyce

Catherine Donohue's life was set on a an unexpected course when she accepted a job at Radium Dial. The pay was great, and her co-workers became her best friends. But a secret was lurking in the greenish-grey paint that magically made things glow in the dark. When Catherine and her friends started becoming sick, this shy Catholic girl stood up to the might of the radium industry, the legal and medical communities, and townspeople who told her to be quiet. Would she be too late? Catherine's quest for social justice in the era between World Wars is emotive and inspiring.

©2020 Samantha Wilcoxson (P)2021 Samantha Wilcoxson

Illuminating

I received this audiobook for free but all opinions are my own.
The life and death of Katherine, a dial painter, has life lessons for everyone. The story was harrowing but beautiful. The narration a perfect balance of strong yet sweet. I was not expecting to be so riveted with the lives of 20th century Ottawa residents, but their story is an important one. Worth a listen!

Haunting Heartbreaking Historical Fiction Bio

4.5 Stars On My Instagram Account*

"Justice delayed was better than justice denied."

But what if justice still isn't enough? In the haunting harrowing Luminous by emphatic historical fiction author Samantha Wilcoxson we see the indignities forced upon the faithful innocent by the greed of the remorseless guilty.

Between WWl and WWll Radium Dial hired young women to paint glowing numbers on their watches. They were trained to hold the paintbrush in their mouths when dotting the watches. Eventually all these women, in their 20s, died from radium poisoning and the company never once admitted guilt or said sorry. But Catherine Donohue, along with her loving husband, fought Radium Dial literally from her death bed.

If you don't shed tears listening to narrator Joanne Joyce perform this writer's vivid emotions of Catherine experiencing her body slowly falling apart from her hips weakening to finding pieces of her jaw bone floating in her mouth, you need to check your tear ducts. I woke up with swollen eyes from sobbing during the last few chapters of her life.

There's also so much anger. When Catherine started limping to work they fired her because "her limp wasn't good for company morale." Every time Radium Dial lost a lawsuit they'd appeal hoping their employees would die before they had to pay anyone.

But through her unwavering faith, she found strength to be heard and because of her many of our current labor laws exist. She died at 35 in 1938. Her body was exhumed for research in 1984 and when the iron clad casket was opened her bones still glowed; but more importantly through this author her spirit remains brilliantly luminous.

I received a copy of this audiobook from #coffeeandthorn for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

**This Review Is For The Audiobook**

Fabulous Historical Fiction Novel!

This is an entertaining, well-researched, beautifully written historical fiction novel. It vividly depicts the life of Ms. Catherine Wolfe Donohue, and her inspiring, courageous, and tragic life, which is portrayed within the historic events of the time period. I was truly immersed in Catherine's life, experiencing her joys, sorrows, friendship, love, pain, suffering, faith, and hope. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter add depth to the story. The author's afterward is enlightening and informative, and is truly appreciated. I listened to the audio book, and the narrator, Ms. Joanne Joyce, has a lovely voice and does an outstanding job voicing the characters. My sincere thanks to Ms. Wilcoxson, from who I received a gift of this wonderful novel as a subscriber to her newsletter. This is my honest opinion.