Susan Sherman's "If You Are There"

Susan Sherman is a former Chair of the Art Department of Whittier College, a small liberal arts university. She is also the co-creator of one of the most successful television shows for children in the history of the Disney Channel. Her first novel, The Little Russian, was picked by Publishers Weekly as one of the best books of 2014.

Here Sherman dreamcasts an adaptation of her second novel, If You Are There:

I can see it now, the red carpet, cameras, cheering crowds, and Meryl Streep, twenty years younger, waving to the bleachers on her way into the Academy Awards. I’m not an ageist, but my novel depicts Madame Curie in her mid-thirties, hence the time cheat. It takes place at the end of the Belle Époque: Paris, science and spiritualism, radium and séances.

The protagonist, Lucia Rutkowska, played by Mia Wasikowska, comes to Paris to work as a cook in the Curie household at a time when the Curies were investigating spiritualism.

Through the famous couple Lucia meets and falls under the spell of Eusapia Palladino, Judi Dench, the most famous medium of her day.

Learn more about the book and author at Susan Sherman's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Little Russian.

Coffee with a Canine: Susan Sherman & Henry and Bessie.

--Marshal Zeringue