As someone who enjoys the history of science—frequently petty, often blood-soaked, and always entertaining—I knew that Antoine Lavoisier was a famous French scientist who met his untimely end under the blade of a guillotine. His wife, with whom he conducted his experiments, is a much less well-known figure. Here, Sparks reimagines her story, taking facts and blending them with fiction to create a hilarious and touching tale of a remarried (but, crucially, not renamed, though she was now technically a Countess) Madame Lavoisier, who trolls her new husband expertly and texts Charlotte Corday with barf emojis about the term ‘helpmeet’. Under Spark’s adept hands, the tale is spun with just the right amount of controlled chaos and seething anger to convey a particular feeling of erasure that women see happen to others so often throughout the historical canon and can’t help wondering if it will also happen to them.
“Lavoisier’s wife probably said something like, Oh, Mr. Thompson, didst thou discover phlogistan? Doest thou even know what phlogistan is? Yeah, prithee I did not think so…
Lavoisier’s wife did not sound like a sitcom character, of course. We are sorry to have previously given that impression. History does not record any extraordinary level of sassiness on her part.”
First published in Outlook Springs, October 2018, and available to read here
A Personal Anthology 