The Only Harmless Great Thing is Labour by Paris Paloma in book form - equally as stunning and heartbreaking.

What initially drew me into this book was the cover, but once I read the brief synopsis that said this was a dark alternative history of two incredibly devastating parts of history - the Radium Girls and Topsy the elephant - I knew this was going to be for me. Having studied and worked in the field of radiography, I find anything related to the history of radiation fascinating, and this really did hit all the boxes for me.

The Only Harmless Great Thing is a quick and biting story, pulling you into the lives of multiple women (two being elephants, but still representing women) and making you feel for them as they struggle and take control of their lives, in whatever capacity they can. Bolander's writing is piercing and I could have annotated every sentence - every piece was necessary and brought the story to life (I did manage to refrain, but did still highlight quite a bit).

The only thing (and honestly, I think this is totally a me problem) that I could have asked for was a little more clarity in the beginning on the timeline, as there are multiple timelines and POVs, but it didn't take too long to straighten everything out.