Marie Hammer was born in 1907 into a large family of eight children. From an early age, a fascination and keen interest in nature take hold within her, shaping a life wholly devoted to one goal: proving that Earth’s continents were once interlinked. Over the course of forty years, Hammer travels the world on a quest to find evidence that supports her groundbreaking theory. Against all the traditions of the time, Hammer stands as an independent woman in a male-dominated scientific field, while still holding on to the dream of a large family of her own.
Thirty years after her first expedition, Hammer’s endeavors are rewarded; through her studies of the microscopic moss mites, she is able to validate her theory and subsequently changes world history with her findings. She has connected the smallest of things with the grandest on Earth – thus succeeding in assembling the world. Yet, during her pursuit her family has been torn apart, and her own world is left fractured.
In The Woman Who Assembled the World, Eva Tind has painted a striking portrayal of an extraordinary woman and scientist, whose profound connection to nature and strong longing to leave a mark on our world’s history defined her life. Through Tind’s incisive prose, Marie Hammer emerges fully – as a woman before her time who paved the way for those following behind her, with her spirit enduring long after the final page.
Extra Materials
Croatia, Iris Illyrica
France, Gallimard
Germany, Rowohlt
Netherlands, Uitgeverij Oevers
Norway, Solum Bokvennen
Sweden, Modernista
Author
Reviews
“Eva Tind’s The Woman Who Assembled the World is a magnificent fictional homage to a Danish female scientist […] Eva Tind undertakes this task in a wonderfully open and proper manner, without being blinded yet staying appropriately impressed in her portrayal of the stubborn, uncompromising and razor-sharp Marie Hammer.”
– Jyllandsposten, 6/6 Stars (DK)
“[Eva Tind] pulls an incredible woman out of oblivion […] Tind succeeds in making Marie Hammer a credible fictional character. With this novel, Eva Tind writes herself – through literary force – into today’s effort of bringing exceptional women out of historical obscurity. Not only does she manage to present a convincing depiction of a woman and her motivation, but also to disseminate her research, so that even a natural scientific illiterate like me can understand it.”
– Politiken, 5/6 Stars (DK)
“[A] magnificent, biographical novel about the mother of mites […] Eva Tind’s The Woman Who Assembled the World, about the uncompromising female scientist Marie Hammer, is a historical, poetic and feminist microscope, which enables us today to look into the past and simultaneously open our eyes to one of the female pioneers who was repressed by collective memory.”
– Berlingske, 5/6 Stars (DK)
“With The Woman Who Assembled the World, Eva Tind surrenders to the conventions of the historical novel, and narrates with great vigor about a female zoologist, who collected a considerable amount of data in the middle of the last century, which contributed to the science proving that the continents were once interlinked. […] The title oozes of an underground movement or an old Hollywood film, which the book fortunately lives up to, by being a very straight forward chronological depiction of the adventurous life of a remarkable person.”
– Information (DK)
“Eva Tind has written a touching novel about the hardened zoologist Marie Hammer, who revolutionized our knowledge of the continents. […] Eva Tind portrays Marie’s fight to be the protagonist in her own life with great insight and a lot of sympathy […] Scientist, mother, human. Marie Hammer is embodied in Eva Tind’s prose.”
– Weekendavisen (DK)