The Girls in the Picture: A Novel

The Girls in the Picture: A Novel

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue and The Aviatorâ€™s Wife, a fascinating novel of the friendship and creative partnership between two of Hollywoodâ€™s earliest female legendsâ€”screenwriter Frances Marion and superstar Mary Pickford

It is 1914, and twenty-five-year-old Frances Marion has left her (second) husband and her Northern California home for the lure of Los Angeles, where she is determined to live independently as an artist. But the word on everyoneâ€™s lips these days is â€œflickersâ€â€”the silent moving pictures enthralling theatergoers. Turn any corner in this burgeoning town and youâ€™ll find made-up actors running around, as a movie camera captures it all.

In this fledgling industry, Frances finds her true calling: writing stories for this wondrous new medium. She also makes the acquaintance of actress Mary Pickford, whose signature golden curls and lively spirit have earned her the title â€œAmericaâ€™s Sweetheart.â€ The two ambitious young women hit it off instantly, their kinship fomented by their mutual fever to create, to move audiences to a frenzy, to start a revolution.

But their ambitions are challenged by both the men around them and the limitations imposed on their genderâ€”and their astronomical success could come at a price. As Mary, the worldâ€™s highest paid and most beloved actress, struggles to live her life under the spotlight, she also wonders if it is possible to find love, even with the dashing actor Douglas Fairbanks. Frances, too, longs to share her life with someone. As in any good Hollywood story, dramas will play out, personalities will clash, and even the deepest friendships might be shattered.

With cameos from such notables as Charlie Chaplin, Louis B. Mayer, Rudolph Valentino, and Lillian Gish, The Girls in the Picture is, at its heart, a story of friendship and forgiveness. Melanie Benjamin perfectly captures the dawn of a glittering new eraâ€”its myths and icons, its possibilities and potential, and its seduction and heartbreak.

Advance praise for The Girls in the Picture

â€œ[Melanie] Benjamin fully captures the giddy excitement of the blossoming movie business in the 1910s and 1920s and has chosen intriguingly flawed protagonists with compelling life stories that arenâ€™t widely known today. This engrossing and rewarding read provides the same mixture of well-researched plot and fascinating characters [that has] made Benjaminâ€™s previous novels so outstanding.â€â€”Library Journal (starred review)
Country USA
Manufacturer Delacorte Press
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2018-01-16
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781101886809

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Delacorte Press
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2018-01-16
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781101886809

The Girls in the Picture: A Novel

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