The tragic true story of a real life radium girl.
Luminous: The Story
of a Radium Girl
by Samantha Wilcoxson
Genre: Biographical Historical Fiction
Tragic true story of a radium girl.
Catherine's life is set on an unexpected course when she accepts a job at
Radium Dial. The dial painters forge friendships and enjoy their work but soon
discover that an evil secret lurks in the magical glow-in-the-dark paint. When
she and her friends start falling ill, Catherine Donohoe takes on the might of
a big corporation and becomes an early pioneer of social justice in the era
between world wars.
Emotive and inspiring - this book will touch you like no other as you witness
the devastating impact of radium poisoning on young women's lives.
It's too late for me, but maybe it will help some of the others.
~ Catherine Wolfe Donohue
GUEST POST
Worker Exploitation at Radium Dial
By Samantha Wilcoxson for Silver Dagger Book Tours
June 2025 – Luminous Blog Tour
Worker exploitation by Radium Dial is the subject of my
newest novel, Luminous, which tells the story of Catherine Donohue, one
of hundreds of young women who worked as dial painters in the 1920s and 1930s.
Her struggle to have her illness recognized as radium poisoning and to have
Radium Dial held responsible will stir up the emotions of any reader. The
battle she fought helped to change workers’ compensation laws so that others
would not suffer her fate. Although Catherine never dreamed of being a heroine,
she changed the course of history.
Radium Dial opened in Ottawa, Illinois in 1918 in response
to the demand after World War I for glow-in-the-dark watches and instrument
dials. The location was an old, brick school building with large rooms and big
windows perfect for the painting work. Radium Dial provided many working class
women with higher paying jobs than they could obtain elsewhere.
Catherine Donohue was one of those women. She began working
at Radium Dial in 1922 at age 19. She and several of her coworkers soon began suffering
symptoms of radium poisoning and fought for years to have their conditions
recognized and covered by workers’ compensation legislation. Radium Dial
continued operating and denied that they owed anything to the women they had
slowly poisoned over their years of employment.
In 1936, Radium Dial closed their operations in the old high
school and moved into a new building just a few blocks away. This new company
was called Luminous Processes. It utilized much of Radium Dial’s assets and
hired the same employees. The move was a strategy to protect corporate assets
from the lawsuits of former employees. When Catherine’s case was heard before
the Illinois Industrial Commission, only $10,000 was available to be paid out
to the several families suffering from radium poisoning.
Operating under the name of Luminous Processes, Radium Dial
protected millions of dollars in profits from those employed before 1937, but
that isn’t the worst of it. They sold the old school to a meat packaging company,
which experienced an exceptionally high rate of cancer in its employees and
customers. When the building was demolished in 1968, the rubble was used as
fill all around Ottawa, poisoning residents for decades.
At the new Luminous Processes building, employees continued
to use radium without proper caution, also adding to the town’s high rates of
cancer and other diseases. Sick workers were offered $100 each in severance pay
to keep them from seeking legal action that they could ill-afford anyway. Luminous
Processes operated until 1978. The company paid only $62,000 toward the
millions of dollars of cleanup that is ongoing to this day by the Environmental
Protection Agency.
EXCERPT
It was not until they broke for
lunch that Catherine had the opportunity to tell Peg that she had brought
enough to share.
“That’s too kind of you,
Catherine, but I couldn’t take advantage.”
“You wouldn’t be,” Catherine
insisted, thrusting the sandwich into Peg’s hands.
“You don’t understand.”
Peg’s voice was quiet, her words
oddly slurred. Catherine realized that she hadn’t heard Peg speak much lately.
“Then help me understand.”
Catherine placed her hands on Peg’s shoulders, gently but firmly. “Tell me what
is wrong. Let me help you.”
Peg sighed and gave in,
gesturing for Catherine to follow her into the tiny bathroom shared by all the
dial painters. Once they were snugly closed inside, Catherine examined Peg’s
face and saw her own concern mirrored there.
Peg surprised her by not
speaking. Instead, she opened her mouth wide and pulled at the side of her
mouth for Catherine to see inside.
“Oh, Peg! How in the world?”
“They just fell out,” Peg
whispered.
Having seen the inside of Peg’s
mouth, understanding flowed over Catherine. Her friend wasn’t avoiding food and
conversation because of money problems. She must be in constant pain from the
throbbing, angry abscesses that flared irritably where two of Peg’s teeth
should have been.
“You poor thing!” Catherine
wrapped her arms around Peg, which was easy to do in their close quarters.
Peg’s shoulder blades and ribs felt sharp. “How long have you been suffering?”
Peg only shook her head as her
tears began to fall.
“Oh, shush, love,” Catherine
murmured, swaying slightly on her feet. “We will talk about it when you’re
ready, and we will find you help.”
“That’s just it,” Peg suddenly
cried out. “I’ve been to the dentist. He doesn’t know what could be wrong, and
four more of my teeth are loose.”
“Four?” Catherine’s voice was
scarcely more than a whisper, and she felt a sliver of fear pierce her heart.
What could be wrong?
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Book Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085ZWBFCQ
Author’s Site: https://samanthawilcoxson.square.site/product/luminous/10
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/luminous-by-samantha-wilcoxson
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54338415-luminous
About the Author
Writer, history enthusiast, and sufferer of wanderlust, Samantha enjoys exploring the lives of historical figures through research and travel. She strives to reveal the deep emotions and motivations of historical figures, enabling readers to connect with them in a unique way. Samantha is an American writer with British roots and proud mother of three amazing young adults. She can frequently be found lakeside with a book in one hand and glass of wine in the other.
Samantha's most recent release is a biography of James Alexander Hamilton published by Pen & Sword History. She is currently writing a trilogy set during the Wars of the Roses for Sapere Books.
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