The Only Woman in the Room is an excellent fictionalized version of the story of Hedy Lamarr. The beauty was much more than Hollywood royalty and a scientific genius. Married to a powerful Austrian arms dealer, Hedy had access to eyes and loose lips of the Third Reich's plans. Escaping from her husband, she's lands in Hollywood.

More than the secret of her Jewish heritage, Hedy's biggest secret is that she's a brilliant scientist and has the designs/an idea on how to revolutionize modern communication....an idea that we use today.

Marie Benedict has done a fabulous job on recreating Lamarr's life and making sure to credit her with the ideas and inventions that many starry eyed fans may forget.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The Only Woman in the Room tells the story of the famous actress Heddy Lamar. This is a fascinating story of a remarkable woman. This book begs to be read and shared. Marie Benedict allows us to see this woman as so much more than a beautiful face,

Thank you Net Galley for an advanced copy of this enjoyable book. All I’ve ever known about Hedy Lamarr is that she was a beautiful and glamorous actress, the ultimate sex symbol. I had no idea that she was a scientist and inventor! The story of her life in Austria, her marriage to Fritz Mandl, a weapons and ammunition manufacturer who she basically flees from when it’s evident that he is negotiating with Hitler, and her eventual success in acting and her invention of a torpedo system that would be accurate and not be subject to jamming by the Nazis, totally intrigued me. I don’t think I can ever look at a cell phone again and not think of Hedwig Kiesler a brilliant woman!

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict is a must-read for anyone who questions the ease in which a smart, beautiful, talented and courageous woman can be marginalized many times throughout her life.

Hedy Lamarr’s life provides a rich treasury for Benedict’s talent and skill. Lamarr was born in pre-World War II Austria. Although she is alleged to have later converted to Catholicism, she and her family were Jewish and therefore, at risk. She was an acclaimed actress at eighteen, and encouraged to marry an older, wealthy, connected industrialist as a means of providing protection for her family. The quintessential trophy wife, she was imprisoned in luxurious homes, not permitted to make even the most trivial decisions. Aside from serving as décor, she served her husband as a listening device at social events, meeting Mussolini and possibly, Hitler. In this role, she learned much about military technology.

Eventually, she escaped and landed in Hollywood where she was forced to circumvent the advances of producers in order to progress as a movie star. It appears that she was celebrated far more for her beauty than her acting talent. Additionally, she hid both her Jewish heritage and her scientific skills from all but a few trusted friends. Driven by her concerns about the war and a desire to help her adopted country succeed in fighting Germany, she and a partner developed a signal frequency hopping technology that received a patent but was rejected by the Navy on frivolous grounds. This technology, for which Lamarr was recognized only recently, later formed the basis for the technology all of us use in cell phones and Bluetooth.

This story is flawed in that Hedy never comes to life as a multi-dimensional person. Her love for her family, children and friends is described but always seems flat. Similarly, her outrage in her perpetual marginalization is acknowledged, but feels circumscribed. I suspect that Hedy kept much hidden away, including her emotional life which must have been a challenge for the author. Nonetheless, I highly recommend this book.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark Publishers for the opportunity to read an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Only Woman in the Room was a well written glimpse into the life of Hedy Lamarr. From her marriage to an Austrian arms dealer before World War Two to her career as an American movie star, she fought to become more than just a pretty face. Marie Benedict’s research into her life shines through! A must for historical fiction fans!

The marginalization of women's contributions to science and inventions back in the 1930s and 40s was awful; that it still exists today in unthinkable, but it does. What does that have to do with this book? Well, everything! Hedy Lamarr, an actress in the 1930s and 40s, was known for her beauty. 'The Only Woman in the Room' is the story about how a beautiful woman used her appearance to help her achieve what she felt was important in life. She was born a Jew in Austria and experienced Hitler's rise to power first hand. When a book makes you research parts of history because the story brings it alive for you, well, that's a great book! I had heard the name Hedy Lamarr before but knew nothing about her life. I really enjoyed this story of a lonely girl who becomes an actress, the wife of an ammunitions dealer, an escape artist, once again an actress, a mother, and an inventor.

I'm very fascinated with Hedy Lamarr's life story, so I was excited to receive this book from Net Galley. I have not read either of the author's other two books (although they both sound interesting as well).

I thought this book was very well-written and intriguing. While it was clearly well-researched, it is a novel, a fictionalized version of Hedy's early life. It definitely makes me want to learn even more about her. I hope this book will inspire readers who were unaware of who she was or who may not have known about her accomplishments beyond her acting career.

I enjoyed reading this book and devoured it pretty quickly. It's a great read.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Sourcebooks for the free review copy. All opinions are my own.

I had never heard of Hedy Lamarr before reading this book, and she seemed to live quite an interesting life. I love how Benedict takes women from history and gives us another side to their story. She does a wonderful job of giving complexity to people that may not be known as anything other than their role - in Hedy's case, that would be an actress.

I really liked how instead of focusing on her whole movie career, Benedict instead chose to combine her early life and used that buildup to show what was some of her most important work that was not seen because everything was overshadowed by her acting. I thought part 1 of the book was so interesting. Hedy was in a quite interesting situation. The development here was spectacular. I had to keep turning pages to see how it would end.

I also enjoyed the focus of part two. While Hollywood seemed like it was going to be the main focus, I'm glad it took a different director than what I was expecting.
This is a great historical fiction book to start the year off with, and I highly recommend it.

The Only Woman in the Room is an extraordinary book! Hedy Lamarr was known for her acting and incredible beauty, but few knew of her scientific mind. Marie Benedict has fleshed out Miss Lamarr's story of not only escaping from Austria and World War II, but also from an abusive husband who was known as the "Merchant of Death". Lamarr's fans knew only of her war efforts to sell bonds, not of her unjammable frequency-hopping invention. An invention that would improve communication to torpedoes, and that continues to be a part of our everyday lives. This is a thoroughly researched, superbly written, and absolutely fascinating book. Historical fiction at its finest. Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy.

This was a fascinating book!! The story itself was compelling, made even more so by the fact it was based on a true story. The author brings to life the characters and the narrative moves along at a brisk pace.

Hedy Lamarr was more than a pretty face. In a time when women were rarely taken seriously, she was smart enough to use her beauty to achieve her goals and used her intelligence to accomplish much more than she was credited.

The book is packed with information but easy to read and very entertaining. I whizzed through it in one afternoon.

I really enjoyed Marie benedict’s two previous books CARNEGIE’S MAID and THE OTHER EINSTEIN so was looking forward to her take on Hedy Lamarr. I was NOT disappointed as she delivered the compelling story of Hedy Lamarr. Benedict brought to life the little known history of one of the world’s most beautiful women and, more importantly, highly intelligent women.

Hedwig Kiestler was born in Austria to a Jewish mother and father. While performing the role of Empress Sisi, she came to the attention of the munitions magnate Fritz Mandl. After a short courtship, his proposal of marriage was seen as a way to protect Hedy from the growing anti-Semitism of the time.

Mandl spoke openly to Hedy about the armaments and munitions he sold. Always the curious one, Hedy read as much as she could about the arms her husband sold and listened in on conversations he held with business partners. The men never imagined that this beautiful woman had any interest in or understood their conversations.

Mandl became more and more controlling and Hedy knew she had to escape his powerful clutches. She flees to England and then to Hollywood where Jewish actors and actresses were fleeing to as they could not perform in Europe. She quickly becomes one of the highest paid performers and is dubbed the most beautiful woman in the world. But over her hangs a cloud of guilt.

Knowing what she did, could she have prevented some of the senseless deaths of European Jews? She now draws on her scientific knowledge to develop equipment to shorten the war thus saving lives. But her real challenge is getting someone to listen to her.

This is a commanding novel based on the true story of actress Hedy Lamarr whose patented idea laid the foundation for secure communications and cellphone technology.

The story was so riveting I flew through the pages losing all track of time. This is a story not to be forgotten.

This was a fabulous read to end 2018. It had much to admire and learn. Set first in Vienna in a well established Jewish family, we have a young Heidi an accomplished debutante in the field of drama with a doting father and an antagonistic mother.

Very soon she catches the eye of a business magnate Fritz Mandl, whose arms dealings and factories have made him a millionaire. He moves with the uppermost sections of society and when his eye falls on Heidi, there is no way out for her. Her marriage takes place and Fritz begins to control every aspect of her life. Who she sees to where she goes, not given any room for anything to do with the many houses he owns, she is merely an ornament to adorn his world. Heidi is a clever woman and Fritz begins to see what an asset she is to his business with her acute business sense and awareness of people.

However when things turn ugly in the Mandl household, and when she is a virtual prisoner in her own home, Heidi plans her escape. Successfully entering the Hollywood scene her new life emerges. Not just a second marriage and the adoption of a baby boy, but her real scientific talent blossoms with the manufacture of a system which will prevent ships being torpedoed. Turned down by the American Navy for the flimsiest and most chauvinistic of reasons, which made me so angry, the prototype of what Hedy Lamarr put together with her partner is followed by the navy today. Even our cell phones use a system which was manufactured or rather put together by her.

No one knows of this part of the glam girls history. That she was responsible for raising 2.5 million pounds in one dance hall performance is one of the highlights of her life. What she actually did is not known - her scientific mind and bent, her obviously above average intelligence was ignored by the powers that be. So sad.

Despite this woman being born in modern times, she did not get a fair chance to shine. This part made me feel very unhappy at the way she was treated. People could not visualize other than what her physical appearance projected, which was glamour and beauty.

This book was about the actress/scientist Hedy Lamarr. It starts with her playing Bavarian Empress Elizabeth at the the theater where "The Merchant of Death", arms dealer Friedrich Mandl discovered her and decided she must be his. They married after dating only a few weeks, but she quickly discovered there was another side to him..... a very ugly one. The book takes us through the marriage, the ultimate divorce, and the beginning of her Hollywood film career. It also briefly touched on the torpedo system that she helped invent, which the U.S. Military declined to use, mainly because a woman designed it.
I really enjoyed the book up until the end. The ending felt rushed, and I wish more time had been allocated towards her role as a scientist. Otherwise, this was a great work of historical fiction......very illuminating and exciting to read.

This. Book. Marie Benedict has done it again! Going into this book, I can comfortably say that I knew next to nothing about the iconic Hedy Lammar, but by the end, she could have been my best friend. The way that this talented author is able to make prominent historical figures come alive so vibrantly within the pages, is just stunning. I simply couldn't put this book down, and HAD to know what was to come in this illuminating story.

To sum it up, we begin the story in Heidi Kiesler's (Hedy Lammar) younger lift, as she was in theater and acting, and saught out by "The Merchant of Death" who after seven short week, married her... and that's when things began to go south. What follows is an incredible journey of power and strength that we see from this woman, and most notably, the advancements and achievements in science and invention she contributes.

What blows me away each time I read a Marie Benedict novel, this one being no exception, is how fascinating the author winds the true stories of these people's lives. It's like you're reading their actual biography, but with a fictional feel that makes it so engaging and keeps the pages turning. I was left so thoughtful and inspired by Lammar's story, and I'm so grateful that this author brought her story to life for readers to enjoy.

I cannot praise this book enough, and will absolutely be recommending it to fans of historical fiction or simply people looking for an inspiring and well-written story! This one gets all the stars from me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher Sourcebooks Landmark for the free review copy in exchange for my honest review.

"The Only Woman in the Room" focuses on the life of movie star Hedy Lamarr whose contributions to science and the development of modern electronics has been largely overlooked.

Unfortunately, this novel doesn't really spend enough time on her scientific achievements or her career as a movie star to really do this woman justice. The novel is much stronger in its first half where it focuses on her first marriage to an arms dealer. I liked learning about her fraught relationship with her mother and husband and how she managed to get away.

After that, the novel becomes rather superficial and only skims over the most important developments in her life. There is no build-up to her becoming a movie star, her scientific achievements just happen, and the protagonist's actions aren't really consistent.

Overall, this novel focuses on an interesting woman but fails to do her justice.

Growing up I used to hear my father exclaim about Hedy Lamarr's beauty and acting ability and until I read Benedict's novel, thought nothing more about inner persona . Benedict slices open her life from her marriage to a Austrian munitions manufacturer and subsequent move to Hollywood. Her career skyrocketed her to fame in the 40's and 50's and her scientific acumen led to her attempts to create a device to help the war efforts. The first half of the book concentrates on the years ushering in WWII as she grows up in Vienna, defining herself more as an Austrian than as a Jew. However, when the political upheavals in Hitler's Germany cause unease for her parents,, they encourage her marriage to the powerful Mandl, in hopes that his influence will keep her safe. Much attention is given to their lavish lifestyle, his treatment of her, her role as a stunning woman and also her silent cunning. Fast forward to the second half of the book where her intellect is on full display as she works tirelessly to develop a device that few would have thought she was capable of. There are many parallels with today's society of the ubiquitous dismissal of women's contributions to society through erroneous beliefs and a narrow vision of their abilities. The first half of the book felt stronger than the second half for me, and I wished she had ended the book with a smoother transition. However, those are small quibbles to pay for learning about this little known history of this intelligent impressive woman.

If you love historical fiction that is based completely in the truth then this book is for you! Hedy Kiesler was a real woman that had a unique viewpoint as Hitler was tearing across Europe. She was married to an owner of an ammunitions plant and she was at many a party where things were said and alliances were made and broken.

I LOVE a historical fiction that has me guessing where the truth ends and fiction begins. I pulled up Wikipedia a few times to get a few thoughts on where the truth is/was. Every time I read a book, and I read a lot, about World War II I think I have read it all and there isn't anything else that I could learn about the people, time and place, but this one was such a different viewpoint of the business behind war and how different leaders and countries reacted to Hitler and his ideas.

I haven't read Marie Benedict's other two books and after reading this book they have moved up on my TBR list. I loved her hyper focus on a female who maybe didn't make the history books, but maybe should! Her other two books seem like the same, should I read The Other Einstein or Carnegie's Maid first?

Hedwig Kiesler is a young wealthy Jewish girl living in Vienna. She longs to be a famous actress but also is interested in science. Her father encourages her to pursue both. She is just gaining respect as an actress when she meets her biggest fan, Fritz Mandl. Mandl has quite a reputation with women and as an Austrian arms dealer. But Hedwig’s parents are concerned about the developing hatred for Jews and believes a marriage between Hedwig and Fritz will save them all. Once Hedwig marries Fritz, she realizes she made a terrible mistake and is imprisoned and abused by her controlling husband. She begins to listen in on conversations at their dinner parties and learns military secrets that she passes on to her husband, hoping to use those secrets to escape from him. Those secrets lead her to become an inventor of a unique radio-communication devise that may help win the war.

I was completely riveted by this book and found it fascinating. I well remember the actress Hedy Lamarr, having watched many of her old movies on TV when I was young. I also knew that this beautiful actress was also the inventor of a radio guidance system that was eventually used in the development of Bluetooth and Wi-fi. But this book opened up her world to me in such a mesmerizing way. The author has a talent for bringing her characters to life. Parts of this book read like a suspenseful thriller and I couldn’t put it down. Most impressive was the focus the author gave to the difficulties Hedy encountered when she presented her invention to the navy and it was refused simply because they said it would be hard for them to sell their soldiers and sailors on a weapons system created by a woman and that they weren’t even going to try. And this was decided when they had a faulty torpedo system in place. She was told that she would do better selling war bonds. I was so glad to read in a postscript that many years later, in the 1990’s, she was finally given recognition and awards for her invention.

Most highly recommended.

Hedy Lamarr...European refugee, Hollywood siren, famous beauty, but scientist? Who knew? Marie Benedict's latest (The Other Einstein, Carnegie's Maid) takes on the story of the real Hedwig Kiesler and paints the picture of a complex, intriguing woman that she was, not as Hollywood portrayed her. Born into a Jewish family, Hedy was raised in Vienna, wed to a powerful man in the Nazi party, and a victim of abuse. Benedict spends half the book on Hedy's early life, showing us the traps she had to escape to become the woman of the silver screen. Her life in Hollywood, under the MGM studio system, is equally as fascinating as her escape from Nazi Austria. Once she gets involved with the invention of a radio system to improve torpedo accuracy, wow, just wow. This story is reminiscent of Hidden Figures and Radium Girls, as the "why didn't we know all this sooner?" factor. Having done outstanding research and delving deeply into the characters, this is definitely my favorite of Marie Benedict's historical fiction dynasty that she is building.

This is a fictionalized life of Hedy Lamarr from the age of 19 to 28. Lamarr is best remembered as the stunningly beautiful and exotic Hollywood actress from the 1940’s and 50’s. The author tries to show that she was so much more.

The problem I had with the novelization that I didn’t really connect with the main character. It is 1933 in Vienna. Hedy Kiesler is introduced at just 19, a year after she made the notorious film Ecstasy where she swam naked and had a graphic sex scene with her leading man. She is onstage at the Theater of Vienna and responding to the thunderous applause she is getting for her role as the Empress Elizabeth. Suddenly a parade of ushers carry on dozens of bouquets of roses and lay them at her feet. The mysterious admirer is no other than Friedrich Mandl, a 34 year old arms manufacturer and the richest man in Vienna. Within weeks Hedy is engaged to be married to him. She may or may not actually love him but she follows her father’s advice that a marriage to him would keep her and her parents safe since they are nonpracticing Jews. She is strictly a trophy wife. He runs the household, chooses her wardrobe, and expects her to be a proper hostess to his many business associates. The only thing Hedy can do is listen and this she is good at. She does display a knack for remembering conversations and mentions something she overheard to her husband which helps him in a business deal. Thereafter, he expects her to eavesdrop and report any tidbits which are to his financial or political advantage. Finally, tired of her husband’s dominance and increasing jealous paranoia plus what she hears about the Nazi plans for Jews , she runs away to Hollywood.

The next 90 pages are about Hedy’s Hollywood career. She gets an MGM contract, foils attempts by Lois B Mayer to seduce her by becoming fast friends with his wife, and makes lots of movies few of which she is proud. She hates the frivolity of the Hollywood establishment, hangs about with the refugee community who bemoan the loss of European culture, gets married again and adopts a baby.

Only in the final chapters of the book does the reader get a glimpse of the brilliant Hedy. When a refugee ship filled with children is sunk, she remembers a conversation she had with a German scientist about the problem of guiding a torpedo to its target. She decides to design a guidance system to make torpedoes more accurate and to offer her invention to the US Navy. She and a songwriter friend do this in a few pages. The Navy rejects the design (fortunately she patented it) and she spends the war selling war bonds.

The only hints in the novel to her engineering brilliance are that she was a good student, read her husband’s trade magazines and books from his science library, and understood a problem that eludes both German and US scientists because she spoke to a torpedo expert for an hour at one of her dinner parties. How much more interesting it would have been to read about a woman who was a brilliant engineer but had to forego a career in science because she knew people would judge her for her beauty, not her brain. Instead, she is portrayed as an actress who, with little expertise, somehow manages to invent the field of Spread Spectrum Technology by thinking of a player piano roll