The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

 The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict - 312 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

She was beautiful. She was a genius. Could the world handle both? 

Hedy Kiesler is lucky. Her beauty leads to a starring role in a controversial film and marriage to a powerful Austrian arms dealer, allowing her to evade Nazi persecution despite her Jewish heritage. But Hedy is also intelligent. At lavish Vienna dinner parties, she overhears the Third Reich's plans. One night in 1937, desperate to escape her controlling husband and the rise of the Nazis, she disguises herself and flees her husband's castle.

She lands in Hollywood, where she becomes Hedy Lamarr, screen star. But Hedy is keeping a secret even more shocking than her Jewish heritage: she is a scientist. She has an idea that might help the country and that might ease her guilt for escaping alone—if anyone will listen to her.

I admit I would not have chosen to read this book as it's not normally what I read, but I read it for a Book Discussion during Women's History Month, and I really enjoyed it. It made me very curious to learn more about Hedy Lamarr, and the more I learned the more impressed I was - and the more disappointed and frustrated I was about the stereotype of a beautiful woman she had to work so hard to try to overcome.