The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
Narrator: Suzanne Toren
Pages: 9
Published by Audible Studios
Publication Date January 8, 2019
Goodreads
She was beautiful. She was a genius. Could the world handle both? A powerful, illuminating 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. A powerful novel based on the incredible true story of the glamour icon and scientist whose groundbreaking invention revolutionized modern communication, The Only Woman in the Room is a masterpiece.
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My Thoughts
I read The Other Einstein last year, I enjoyed the writing of the story, it was just the characters characters annoyed me and therefore I had a hard time getting into the novel. Carnegie’s Maid was a complete disappointment and I actually returned it to Audible halfway through. So why listen to The Only Woman in the Room you ask? Because I loved the premise and was interesting in learning that Hedy Lamarr was more than just a pretty face. Fortunatey, the third time was a charm. I was spellbound listening to her time in Austria and the actions with her abusive husband that eventually led to her fleeing to the United States. I did find the section about Larmarr in Hollywood to be a bit tedious and repetative. I wanted to move on to the lesser know aspects of Hedy and her ambitions to be an inventor. Benedict does touch on that but not until late in the book. I really enjoyed listening to that portion and wished the author had spent more time on it. I also listened to the Afterward and found it very informative as it discussed that Hedwig Kiesler’s contributions to science have been used in the development of the cell phone; proving that while she may have been the only woman in the room she was more than a pretty face.
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