Listen free for 30 days

  • A Mind of Her Own

  • Written by: Paula McLain
  • Narrated by: Hillary Huber
  • Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (110 ratings)

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
A Mind of Her Own cover art

A Mind of Her Own

Written by: Paula McLain
Narrated by: Hillary Huber
Try for $0.00

$14.95 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $9.97

Buy Now for $9.97

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

From Paula McLain, the best-selling author of The Paris Wife and Love and Ruin, comes a breathtakingly intimate story of the brilliant, willful Marie Curie—a young woman in Paris on the verge of her greatest discovery yet: herself.

Marie Sklodowska, 25, is studying science at the Sorbonne—one of the only universities in the world that has begun to admit women. A thousand miles from her native Poland, with no money and the odds stacked against any woman daring to pursue a career in such a rigorous field, Marie throws herself into her studies. She’s certain that to succeed in a man’s world, she will have to go it alone.

Her meticulous plans get thrown slightly off-course when Marie attracts the attention of an accomplished physicist, himself on the precipice of greatness. Pierre Curie, famous for his work on symmetry, believes he has found in Marie an equal who shares his devotion to scientific discovery. He offers to help with her work, and soon begins to court her. But to Marie, men have always been an obstacle, love a distraction from her goals. She hasn’t come this far to let either stand in the way of her dreams—dreams Pierre insists they can share.

In A Mind of Her Own, McLain taps into the luminous mind and complex heart of a singular woman caught between order and chaos, science and love in the period just before the world would learn her name.

©2019 Paula McLain (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.

What listeners say about A Mind of Her Own

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    39
  • 4 Stars
    31
  • 3 Stars
    25
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    47
  • 4 Stars
    28
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    31
  • 4 Stars
    21
  • 3 Stars
    29
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

A little disappointing

I was excited to hear a new take on Marie Curie’s story, and ended up in the middle of a Hallmark romance. Not horrible, just disappointing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A brief introduction

Conveyed some interesting information about Marie Curie, but left me wanting to find a better biography about her life. For such a short work about such an amazing woman, I wish less time had been devoted to her inner dialogue basically saying “I don’t need no man”.
A quick listen, that basically reduces to a teaser of a Marie Curie biography, with the bulk of the focus (the love-story narrative) as my least favourite part.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Where’s the rest?!

Itsvery engaging but it’s only a teaser. Would love to hear the rest of the story about her life. Seems like it had just got warmed up when it ended….

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Too Short

McLain paints beautiful word pictures. A great introduction and so disappointed it ended. Huber is excellent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • SAS
  • 2022-01-19

Appealing French Pronunciation

I had to stop listening.
When hiring readers for these Audible projects could producers ensure they hire people who can properly pronounce words indigenous to the book they are reading?! Otherwise it just sounds amateurish and plain horrible. This reader, Hilary Huber, is narrating Marie Curie’s autobiography, a majority of which takes place in France. But Huber can’t get any of the French words right. And her accent is abysmal. Kind of hard for a listener to take her seriously and immerse in the story.
I pulled the plug and am moving on to another book. Very disappointed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Meh…

It was fine. Not engaging, not interesting enough for the 75 minutes of your life. The chapters didn’t flow together well enough for me

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A ind of her Own

I knew about Madame Curie before I read this book but the author helped me to see her as a real woman of science as well as a loving wife and wife. I enjoyed the story very much.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Too much Pierre, not enough Marie

I enjoyed the story but I was really disappointed that the story revolved almost completely around Marie curie's romantic relationship with Pierre. I would have preferred to hear more about her work her health struggles and her life rather than just her dates and her proposal.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not the whole story.

I was thinking this is very short to talk about someone’s life. It’s touches on her early life not much on her discoveries or sickness.
Not bad though.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not worth a credit

This is the second time I have been dispointed with an audible orginal audio book. Short book with little plot or substance and really did not capture or add much insight into Marie Currie.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful