Author Marie Benedict Discusses Pivotal Yet Overlooked Women in History
Converse welcomed author Marie Benedict as she discussed her acclaimed new novel, The Only Woman in the Room. Daniel Recital Hall was packed as Benedict explored her novels about women who played a pivotal role in history but were overlooked. A reception and book-signing afterward allowed students to meet and discuss the novel with Benedict herself.
All incoming, first-year students at Converse College were required to read The Only Woman in the Room over the summer. These freshmen will explore the theme “Design Your College Experience” during their Student Success Seminar. This year-long theme asks students to take a personal stake in their own college experience.
Instructors will use literary character Hedy Lamarr from The Only Woman In The Room as an example of a person who took life by the horns and made things happen. Benedict’s work of historical fiction explores the remarkable life of Hedy Lamarr.
See highlights from the event:
About Marie Benedict
Marie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years’ experience as a litigator at two of the country’s premier law firms. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Boston College with a focus in History and Art History, and a cum laude graduate of the Boston University School of Law.
While practicing as a lawyer, Marie dreamed of a fantastical job unearthing the hidden historical stories of women — and finally found it when she tried her hand at writing. She embarked on a new, narratively 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 The Only Woman In The Room, which published in January of 2019. In January of 2020, Lady Clementine will be released. Writing as Heather Terrell, Marie also published the historical novels The Chrysalis, The Map Thief, and Brigid of Kildare.