Finally Friday - PA Book Club Zoom

 cover blurb - She possessed a stunning  beauty.  She also possessed a stunning mind. Could the world handle both?

 She fled the Third Reich, and the whirlwind escape landed her in Hollywood. She became Hedy Lamarr, screen star.

But she kept a secret even more shocking than her heritage or her marriage: she was a scientist. And she knew a few secrets about the enemy. She had an idea that might help the country fight the Nazis...if anyone would listen to her. 

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict explores an amazing life - a fictionalized version of Hedy Lamarr's life. She was a young Jewish woman who married Fritz Mandl, an armaments manufacturer. She hosted Nazis in their castles. She fled, became a famous Hollywood actress, all while designing a frequency hopping invention, a precursor to spread spectrum technology. 

I had hoped for more from this book. The writing and story line almost had a soap opera tone, in my opinion. A lot of chapters established her beauty and life with Fritz - a very controlling man. Then once in  Hollywood, the writing offered a lot of hand wringing and guilty dread for her life. I would have liked more on the science breakthrough that was so brilliant. Indeed, she was born at the wrong time to be taken seriously. 

It's quite a tale and quite a life. There was just a missing element in the writing for me. Tonight my PA book club friends discuss the book on Zoom. I'll be curious to  hear their thoughts.