My Love Nikola Tesla’s book has received a glowing 5-star review from IndieReader!
A series of fictional journal entries dotted with historical events and annotated quotes which follows the flirtatious friendship of Nikola Tesla and Katharine McMahon Johnson—believed by many to be the only woman he ever loved.
Serbian born Nikola Tesla was, and is, a mysterious figure. Delving into the truth of his character is a field of study in and of itself: one which author Ana Atanaskovic has committed to. The result is MY LOVE NIKOLA TESLA: equal parts historical fiction, romance, and thesis. The narrator is Katharine McMahon Johnson, the wife of author and diplomat Robert Underwood Johnson. In reality, both Robert and Katharine were two of Tesla’s closest friends, with Katharine’s dying wish being for her husband to keep in touch with him. The book itself is a journal, starting from its receipt and following Katharine through her meeting with and marriage to Robert. At first, the story is a simple monthly log of the couple’s life: Robert’s burgeoning writing career, their famous friends, and their growing family. But when Nikola Tesla arrives on the scene, it expands from paragraph-long snapshots into long-form narrative. In this journal, the fictional Katharine bears her soul: her fascination with “Nick” in both body and mind, her dreams (good and bad), her conflict between wanting to be loved by him and wanting to be faithful to her husband. Tesla’s experiments with electricity become the imagery she paints with, and their discussions about the afterlife and the persistence of the soul as energy wind through the pages.
Reading MY LOVE NIKOLA TESLA truly does feel like reading someone’s secret thoughts: a bit embarrassing at times, but also thrilling. The fictional Katharine is truly and believably lovesick, going from second-guessing a few words in a letter to detailing sexual fantasies in a blend of shame and fascination. This poetic longing plays out in secret while Robert openly publishes love poems to her: a dichotomy that appears subtly under the narrative. Quotes pulled from real letters among the trio are annotated, reminding the reader of what is real and what is speculation, but adding fuel to the speculative fire nonetheless.
There are a few stumbles with the translation; however, it’s clear that these are issues with the translation and not the original prose, and they don’t impede the reading at all. Atanaskovic deftly wields both real-world knowledge and a mastery of character voice. In another writer’s hands, this same story could feel almost accusatory, as though putting ideas in the mind of a person too long gone to protest. Here, it feels legitimate: an author freeing a voice rather than writing over it. Even the length of entries begins to serve as a sort of punctuation, flowing from pages of adulation to simple, dry sentences about daily life. It’s as educational as it is thrilling.
Ana Atanaskovic’s MY LOVE NIKOLA TESLA is a must-read—couched in history, but flowing with genuine affection and adulation—from its seemingly calm introduction through its turbulent core and into its wispy, bittersweet ending.
~Kara Dennison for IndieReader
To read the full review, please follow the link provided – https://indiereader.com/book_review/my-love-nikola-tesla/