The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

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.

Genre

Historical Fiction

312 pages, Hardcover

First published January 8, 2019

My Thoughts

In Benedict’s story of Hedy Lamar's life, we have a ready-made thriller as well as a feminist parable: A Jewish-born Viennese who flees the Nazis and her pro-fascist arms dealer husband, Lamar is determined to give the Allies a military leg up in the form of a jam-proof, radio-guided torpedo system, if only she can get the Navy to take her seriously.

Honestly, I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second. The portion of the story where she was married to the arms dealer was far more engaging. The ending also seemed a bit anti-climatic, but overall I give this book 3.5 stars.