Structure

The biography is divided into three parts that reflect three stages of Marie Curie's life; her youth and childhood in Poland, her university education and marriage to Pierre Curie in France, and her later years as she continued to raise her daughters and work at the Institute of Radium in Paris. Each of the three parts of the biography is divided into chapters that narrow focus on Marie Curie's life. For instance, Chapter XII is concerned with Marie's experiments with radiation that led her to discover polonium and radium.

The narrator, Eve Curie, presents scenes that represent anecdotes she heard from her mother and family; Eve states in her introduction these anecdotes are without ornamentation or embellishment. Also, several chapters include letters written by the world renowned scientist and Marie's family members. These represent primary sources of historical information around which the biography is built.

Perspective

Tone