NOEL KING, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Noel King. Harriet Lye has written a novel and a forthcoming memoir. But probably nothing she's written has gotten as much attention as something she recently posted on Twitter. Harriet wrote, my cousin in England told her colleagues she wanted a Mariah Carey birthday cake. Mariah Carey, the singer. Instead, the cake is frosted with a black-and-white image of someone else. It's Marie Curie, the physicist and chemist, looking very festive, Harriet notes. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.