The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict is a historical fiction novel about the Austrian actress turned Hollywood bombshell Hedy Lamarr. Lamarr led a fascinating life – featuring a marriage to a prominent Austrian businessman and politician, a daring escape after Nazi invasion, signing on with MGM films, and eventually becoming a self-taught inventor. I didn’t know anything about her and was excited to learn her story through this fictionalized account. Unfortunately, Benedict’s novel fell short of my expectations.
Lamarr – born Hedwig Kiesler in 1914 to a Jewish family – first made headlines after starring in an erotic, award-winning Czech film. Following this controversial film, she debuted in a number of stage productions, including the lead role in Sissy, during which she gained the obsessive attention of wealthy Friedrich Mandl, a powerful Austrian politician and arms dealer. After a whirlwind romance, Lamarr became Mrs. Mandl at the age of 18.
Her marriage was far from happy. Mandl was an extremely possessive husband who promptly prohibited Lamarr from acting and, according to this author, from leaving her own home without his permission. As World War II approached, Mandl developed strong ties first with Benito Mussolini and, later, with Adolf Hitler. After the Nazis invaded Austria, Lamarr escaped her troubled marriage and fled to London. She later made her way to Hollywood. She connected with MGM’s Louis B. Mayer and signed a contract with him. Mayer promoted her as the world’s “most beautiful woman,” and she acted alongside many of Hollywood’s leading men of the time, including Clark Gable of Gone with the Wind.
All the while, keeping her Jewish heritage a secret, Lamarr followed the events in Europe closely. She self-taught herself science and technology and worked with a friend – musician George Anthell – to develop a frequency-hopping signal for submarines to use in the war. Despite its utility, the US Navy did not implement her technology until the 1950s. To give an idea of how significant her work was, the technology she developed is not far off from what is used in Bluetooth technology and Wi-Fi. Lamarr was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame fourteen years after her death.
Fascinating.
But Benedict’s book was not. I felt that the book did not do Ms. Lamarr’s life justice. Benedict focused over half of the novel on the tumultuous marriage to Mandl, going into great detail about his obsessive, controlling nature, the lavish lifestyle they lived, and the abuse Lamarr suffered. She spends paragraphs describing wardrobe, jewelry, Lamarr’s beauty, dinner scenes, and the like. Benedict attempts to convey this silent resistance from Ms. Lamarr (then Mrs. Mandl) in the form of having her eavesdrop on important, secretive meetings her husband has with men like Mussolini, but it is simply underdeveloped and nothing seems to come from it.
The planning and escape from Austria is rushed. Within pages, Lamarr meets Louis Mayer and moves to the US. Benedict tells us how the transition goes for Lamarr instead of showing us and letting us feel how she feels being thrust into Los Angeles from Austria. Changing her name. Leaving her marriage and family behind. From there, the whole book felt underdeveloped. Benedict had too much to cover and not enough pages to do so. Lamarr’s inventing career was pretty much glossed over in favor of more relationship drama between her and her romantic partners. I actually didn’t grasp the impact of Lamarr’s work until I looked it up after finishing the novel.
All in all, I was disappointed. The story started off strong and had me hooked but was ultimately unremarkable.
Jessica
Copyright Marie Benedict and Sourcebooks, Inc. Image from Amazon.com.
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