July 16, 1945. The world's first atomic mushroom cloud rises above New Mexico desert. At the moment of detonation, the men responsible for the bomb, the physicists Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard, suddenly find themselves thrown forward in time to the year 2003.
As they adjust to life in the 'future', Ann, a librarian, and her doting husband, Ben, befriend them. How the charismatic, time-travelling scientists affect both modern America and the marriage of these two ordinary people, is the subject of Lydia Millet's heroically mischievous tragicomedy.
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award.