The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

Hedy Kiesler, better known as Hedy Lamarr, was an intelligent, inventive thinker whose ideas went largely unnoticed because her exotic beauty and screen talent overshadowed her private life. At a young age in Austria, she married a controlling arms merchant and crossed paths socially with European royalty, Mussolini, and lastly with Nazi officials. Unaware that there was a brain inside her beautiful head, she was able to listen in and gain insight and information that could aid in taking down the Nazi regime. Escaping that disastrous marriage, Hedy fled to Hollywood where once again her life was controlled by powerful men. Behind the scene, she used all the information she had overheard years before and worked to solve a scientific dilemma of how to control torpedos. Once again, her hard work was rewarded by men who only saw the beauty, not the brains. Once again, Marie Benedict shows us the life of a strong woman who left center stage to others to take the bows. A brilliant mind that was disregarded because of her beauty and sex. This is historical fiction at its very best - book clubs will jump at this captivating look at the woman behind the woman we knew as Hedy Lamarr.