oak ridge (tenn.)

In 1944, eighteen-year-old June Walker begins work with hundreds of other young women at a brand new factory with giant machines--but neither she, nor anyone else, is told what the facility is. Eager to know more, she begins an affair a young Jewish scientist named Sam Cantor who knows all to well what the facility is designed for. Meanwhile, an African American construction worker, Joe Brewer, doesn't care what the facility is, but knows it's paying the bills for his family in Alabama. Then, after a security breach, Joe and June's lives become intertwined.

At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee had thousands of residents and consumed more electricity than New York City. Young women from small towns across America were enticed to come there by war-ending work and solid wages. Kept in the dark about the true nature of their work they would not find out the secret until the end of the war. The women of Oak Ridge, also known as Atomic City to a select few, were indispensable to the winning of World War II. Tens of thousands of women and men contributed to the making of the atom bomb.

Living in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where her father is involved in a secret government project in the final months of World War II, thirteen-year-old Mattie carries on a constant debate with her twelve-year-old cousin Virgil about the relative merits of boys versus girls.

Relates the history of the women who contributed to the war work in World War II at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and captures the spirit of the secret war work and contributions of those women.