Book Recommendation: The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
The Only Woman in the Room (2019) tells the story of Hedy Kiesler, better known as Hedy Lamarr by The New York Times bestselling American author Marie Benedict. Dolores and I enjoyed this novel and recommend it for your reading list. Click on the links to learn more about the author and her books.
Marie Benedict’s “The Only Woman in the Room” is the remarkable story of an equally extraordinary woman. It is a made-up account of Hedy Lamarr, a screen siren that was better known for her beauty though she had made significant contributions to science. At the beginning of the novel, an aspiring actress in pre-World War II Austria has been forced to marry a disreputable arms dealer. As the trophy wife to one of the most powerful men in Austria, she was privy to many clandestine meetings and dinner parties between powerful members of the government. While most of her guests dismiss her as an airhead, what they do not realize is that she takes in more than they would have wanted to reveal. She finally decides to run away from her abusive marriage and leaves the country. Hedy goes to the US and lands in Los Angeles, where she makes her name as a famous actress though she is always guilty about the pain of the Austrian people during the Second World War. She believes that she could have done more to help them out before she fled to the United States. She uses the knowledge she had gathered when she was a trophy wife and makes a weapon, she hopes will help bring a quick end to the war.
Marie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years' experience as a litigator at two of the country's premier law firms, who found her calling unearthing the hidden historical stories of women. Her mission is to excavate from the past the most important, complex and fascinating women of history and bring them into the light of present-day where we can finally perceive the breadth of their contributions as well as the insights they bring to modern day issues. She embarked on a new, thematically connected series of historical novels with THE OTHER EINSTEIN, which tells the tale of Albert Einstein's first wife, a physicist herself, and the role she might have played in his theories. The next novel in this series is the USA Today bestselling CARNEGIE'S MAID -- which released in January of 2018 -- and the book that followed is the New York Times bestseller and Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM, the story of the brilliant inventor Hedy Lamarr, which published in January of 2019. In January of 2020, LADY CLEMENTINE, the story of the incredible Clementine Churchill, was released, and became an international bestseller. Her next novel, the Instant NYTimes and USAToday bestselling THE MYSTERY OF MRS. CHRISTIE, was published on December 29, 2020, and her first co-written book, THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN, with the talented Victoria Christopher Murray, will be released on June 1, 2021. Writing as Heather Terrell, Marie also published the historical novels The Chrysalis, The Map Thief, and Brigid of Kildare.
MARIE BENEDICT BOOKS IN ORDER
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
The Other Einstein (2016)
Carnegie's Maid (2018)
The Only Woman in the Room (2019)
Lady Clementine (2020)
The Mystery Of Mrs. Christie (2021)
The Personal Librarian (With: Victoria Christopher Murray) (2021)
Goodreads Review of The Only Woman in the Room
She was beautiful. She was a genius. Could the world handle both? A novel about Hedy Lamarr.
Hedy Kiesler is lucky. Her beauty leads to a starring role in a controversial film and marriage to a powerful Austrian arms dealer, allowing her to evade Nazi persecution despite her Jewish heritage. But Hedy is also intelligent. At lavish Vienna dinner parties, she overhears the Third Reich's plans. One night in 1937, desperate to escape her controlling husband and the rise of the Nazis, she disguises herself and flees her husband's castle.
She lands in Hollywood, where she becomes Hedy Lamarr, screen star. But Hedy is keeping a secret even more shocking than her Jewish heritage: she is a scientist. She has an idea that might help the country and that might ease her guilt for escaping alone—if anyone will listen to her.
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