The Girls in the Picture: A Novel

by Melanie Benjamin Narrated by Kimberly Farr

Overview

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue*and*The Aviator's Wife, a “rich exploration of two Hollywood friends who shaped the movies” (USA Today)-screenwriter Frances Marion and superstar Mary Pickford

“Full of Old Hollywood glamour and true details about the pair's historic careers . . . a captivating ode to a legendary bond.”-Real Simple

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY REAL SIMPLE

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 everyone's lips these days is “flickers”-the silent moving pictures enthralling theatergoers. Turn any corner in this burgeoning town and you'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 “America's Sweetheart.” 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 gender-and their astronomical success could come at a price. As Mary, the world'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 brilliantly captures the dawn of a glittering new era-its myths and icons, its possibilities and potential, and its seduction and heartbreak.
*
“A boffo production . . . Inspiration is a rare and unexpected gift in a book filled with the fluff of Hollywood, but Benjamin provides it with*The Girls in the Picture.”-NPR

“Profoundly resonant,*The Girls in the Picture*is at its core, an empowering and fascinating tale of sisterhood.”-Bryce Dallas Howard

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Full of Old Hollywood glamour and true details about the pair’s historic careers, The Girls in the Picture is a captivating ode to a legendary bond.”—Real Simple

“In the era of #MeToo, Girls could not be more timely—or troubling—about the treatment of women in the workplace. . . . [Melanie] Benjamin portrays the affection and friction between Pickford and Marion with compassion and insight. . . . As Hollywood preps for an Oscar season riven with the sexual mistreatment scandal, the rest of us can settle in with this rich exploration of two Hollywood friends who shaped the movies.”—USA Today

“A boffo production . . . One of the pleasures of The Girls in the Picture its no-males-necessary alliance of two determined females—#TimesUp before its time. . . . Inspiration is a rare and unexpected gift in a book filled with the fluff of Hollywood, but Benjamin provides it with The Girls in the Picture.”—NPR

“Benjamin immerses readers in the whirlwind excitement of Mary’s and Frances’ lives while portraying a rarely seen character, an early woman screenwriter, and deftly exploring the complexities of female friendship.”—Booklist

“The heady, infectious energy of the fledgling film industry in Los Angeles is convincingly conveyed—and the loving but competitive friendship between these two women on the rise in a man’s world is a powerful source of both tension and relatability.”—Publishers Weekly

“Profoundly resonant, The Girls in the Picture is at its core, an empowering and fascinating tale of sisterhood. . . . Deeply affecting . . . This book isn’t just timely, it’s necessary!”—Bryce Dallas Howard

“Melanie Benjamin, known for her living, breathing portraits of famous figures, takes on the Golden Age of Hollywood, and the friendship between icons Mary Pickford and screenwriter Frances Marion. As riveting as the latest blockbuster, this is a star-studded story of female friendships, creative sparks about to ignite, and the power of women. Dazzling.”—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Cruel Beautiful World

“Set at the dawn of Hollywood, The Girls in the Picture explores the friendship between renowned starlet Mary Pickford and screenwriter Frances Marion. With the artistry for which she has become renowned, Melanie Benjamin has simultaneously created an insightful tale of the relationship between writer and muse and a breathtaking view into Hollywood’s most glittering era.”—Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan’s Tale

“A scintillating journey back in time to the gritty and glamorous days of old Hollywood . . . With elegant prose and delicious historical detail, Benjamin delivers a timely tale of female friendship—and the powerful duo who dared to dream beyond the narrow roles into which they’d been cast.”—Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of Where the Light Falls and Sisi

Library Journal - Audio

03/01/2018
Benjamin (The Swans of Fifth Avenue) imagines the friendship of scenarist and later screenwriter Frances Marion with silent screen star Mary Pickford, America's Sweetheart. Alternating chapters tell of their meeting and how they navigate the tumultuous world of the silent movies—"flickers"—as women. Cameos from such notables as Charlie Chaplin, Louis B. Mayer, Rudolph Valentino, and Lillian Gish add historic zest to a tale that plumbs the cost of fame and the price of image. Actress Kimberly Farr imbues the voices of Marion and Pickford with texture and color. The Marion chapters are in first person and seem stronger than do those featuring Pickford, which are in third person. Farr uses just the right combination of steel and sweetness to make Pickford believable. VERDICT Recommended for fans of historic fiction and early Hollywood. ["This engrossing and rewarding read provides the same mixture of well-researched plot and fascinating characters who have made Benjamin's previous novels so outstanding": LJ 9/1/17 starred review of the Delacorte hc.]—David Faucheux, Lafayette, LA

Kirkus Reviews

2018-01-23
Benjamin encores The Swans of Fifth Avenue (2016) with another glam story inspired by the legendary personalities and monkeyshines of America's film pioneers.Silent screen ingénue Mary Pickford (nee Gladys Louise Smith) and screenwriter Frances Marion meet cute on their way to becoming Hollywood A-listers—or, in Mary's case, Hollywood royalty following her marriage to Douglas Fairbanks. An assiduous researcher, Benjamin quickly gets into the heads and hearts of both women, whose professional collaboration and personal friendship over six decades are laced with delicious film trivia, e.g. the secret of Pickford's imperishable golden curls. Moving from "flickers" to "talkies" (which paradoxically required silence on formerly noisy sets) through star-studded wartime newsreels and Hollywood-style Prohibition (teacups filled with gin blossoms), Benjamin touches on the intrigues of an industry finding its legs. Pickford—the first film actress to become "a casualty of her own image"—is rendered in third person and comes off as a bit damaged (for good reason), while Marion—the first writer to win two Academy Awards—narrates her own story with an amused cockiness one might expect from a contemporary of Anita Loos and Adela St. John. Content to stay behind the scenes after briefly trying her hand at acting, Frances provides Mary with the scripts and roles that lock in her reign as "America's Sweetheart," giving Pickford the financial means to co-found (along with Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, and D.W. Griffith) United Artists, the first actor-directed film studio in America. When Mary decides to divorce her first husband (silent film idol Owen Moore—here depicted as a bad character), she turns to her twice-divorced friend for support, certain that "Fran would write her a way out of this." She's already prepaid the favor by setting Frances up with the love of her life, a gift that haunts their relationship to the end of their days.A smart, fond backward glance at two trailblazers from an era when being the only woman in the room was not only the norm, but revolutionary.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169210149
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	01/16/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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Chapter 1
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Excerpted from "The Girls in the Picture"
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Copyright © 2018 Melanie Benjamin.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group.
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