Books like The atomic city girls by Janet Beard

In November 1944, June Walker, then eighteen, boards an unmarked bus to Oak Ridge, Tennessee—a rapidly built clandestine town whose existence is denied to outsiders. The town is a hub for the Manhattan Project, where thousands of young women, hidden behind trailers and segregated housing, operate massive machines whose purpose remains undisclosed. Though they know they are aiding the war effort, the girls must keep silent and obey strict security. June spends evenings dancing with soldiers, scientists, and workers, while her roommate Cici pursues a different dream of wealth and escape from sharecropping roots. An affair develops between June and Sam Cantor, a Jewish physicist who oversees the lab and understands the true nature of their work. Meanwhile, African‑American construction worker Joe Brewer, hired to build the town, feels the weight of leaving his family behind, unaware of the broader plans. A security breach brings his path into June’s search for truth, culminating in the bombing of Hiroshima that forces her to confront her ideals about loyalty, patriotism, and war.

First publish date: 2018