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About Marie BenedictMarie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years' experience as a litigator at two of the country's premier law firms, who found her calling unearthing the hidden historical stories of women. Her mission is to excavate from the past the most important, complex and fascinating women of history and bring them into the light of present-day where we can finally perceive the breadth of their contributions as well as the insights they bring to modern day issues. She embarked on a new, thematically connected series of historical novels with THE OTHER EINSTEIN, which tells the tale of Albert Einstein's first wife, a physicist herself, and the role she might have played in his theories. The next novel in this series is the USA Today bestselling CARNEGIE'S MAID -- which released in January of 2018 -- and the book that followed is the New York Times bestseller and Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM, the story of the brilliant inventor Hedy Lamarr, which published in January of 2019. In January of 2020, LADY CLEMENTINE, the story of the incredible Clementine Churchill, was released, and became an international bestseller. Writing as Heather Terrell, Marie also published the historical novels The Chrysalis, The Map Thief, and Brigid of Kildare.
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An Exclusive Interview with Marie Benedict
What’s the best thing about being a writer?
As a child, I always adored books in which the characters found a doorway to the past and got to lose themselves in another time and place. I wanted to be those characters. Now, as a writer, I get to fulfill that childhood fantasy of traveling to the past by walking through the doorway of my fiction.
What are you currently working on?
Right now, I am finalizing a book about the eleven days when the mystery novelist Agatha Christie disappeared, giving rise to the largest manhunt in England's history, only to just as mysteriously reappear. In my telling, THE MYSTERY OF MRS. CHRISTIE is the tale of that rare historical woman who rewrites her own narrative to claim her contributions and position in her time and our own.
How do you get inspired to write?
Because my writing focuses on the untold stories of women throughout history, the inspiration for my writing usually comes from historical research and reading that I undertake regularly. Once I dig into the research, I operate almost like a archaeologist, unearthing the story from the detritus of history where it was buried.
Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?
As I was researching my previous novel THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM, I was knee-deep in documentation about World War II, and of course, I kept encountering the ubiquitous Winston Churchill, with his cigar and hat, and I wondered about his wife, Clementine.
I took a short detour in my research about Hedy Lamarr to investigate Clementine Churchill. From the moment I dipped into her unusual background and read about the first time she met Winston, I was hooked by this bright, complicated, loyal, bold, and sometimes contentious woman. Her legacy was important, yet largely unknown, and I knew that I needed to tell my version of Clementine’s story next.
As a child, I always adored books in which the characters found a doorway to the past and got to lose themselves in another time and place. I wanted to be those characters. Now, as a writer, I get to fulfill that childhood fantasy of traveling to the past by walking through the doorway of my fiction.
What are you currently working on?
Right now, I am finalizing a book about the eleven days when the mystery novelist Agatha Christie disappeared, giving rise to the largest manhunt in England's history, only to just as mysteriously reappear. In my telling, THE MYSTERY OF MRS. CHRISTIE is the tale of that rare historical woman who rewrites her own narrative to claim her contributions and position in her time and our own.
How do you get inspired to write?
Because my writing focuses on the untold stories of women throughout history, the inspiration for my writing usually comes from historical research and reading that I undertake regularly. Once I dig into the research, I operate almost like a archaeologist, unearthing the story from the detritus of history where it was buried.
Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?
As I was researching my previous novel THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM, I was knee-deep in documentation about World War II, and of course, I kept encountering the ubiquitous Winston Churchill, with his cigar and hat, and I wondered about his wife, Clementine.
I took a short detour in my research about Hedy Lamarr to investigate Clementine Churchill. From the moment I dipped into her unusual background and read about the first time she met Winston, I was hooked by this bright, complicated, loyal, bold, and sometimes contentious woman. Her legacy was important, yet largely unknown, and I knew that I needed to tell my version of Clementine’s story next.