What details are needed to keep us turning the page? That’s the question of the week!

Hey there happy reader!

Are you a member of a book club? I am. Sometimes we read a book that doesn’t really move me, and other times we choose a title that I can’t put down…

Marie Benedict’s wonderful historical novel is one of those stories that seems unlikely to be real, but it is! 

It’s this talented author’s imagining of the truth behind the life of actress Hedy Lamarr. An Austrian immigrant, she was a Hollywood actress in the 1930’s and ‘40’s, but more importantly, she was a genius inventor and the creator of the origins of both WiFi and GPS.

Guilt-ridden for having escaped an abusive marriage and Hitler’s grasp, Hedy came up with a way to make torpedoes able to hop between frequencies, eluding the enemy. Considered a great beauty, Hedy is thought to have been the model for Disney’s “Snow White.” But more importantly to me, Hedy was my father’s favorite actress. As a child, I thought it was because she was so beautiful, but as an adult, I realize it was because she rose up to fight against the Nazis. A Holocaust survivor himself, my dad enjoyed any story where the Nazi regime was defeated…

In reading this book, I was struck by the small details the author offers that help to make it compelling – the ring of sweat left behind from ice melting in a glass, the various pots of make-up scattered on an actress’s dressing table, the powdery scent of a newborn’s neck – nothing earth shattering, yet these small descriptions add up to draw a vivid picture in the mind of the reader.

That’s what I’m trying to accomplish in my work-in-progress, “Below the Horizon.” 

From the smell of the firepits and the food cooked over the open flames, to the crowded marketplace with its colorful wares, to the details of the jewels worn by my protagonist Maya, I’m hoping to transport you to a place that lives very far in the past.

And while no one can be totally sure what happened there, or why the people who lived around this neolithic structure disappeared, we can imagine it. Luckily for me, I happen to have a very vivid imagination!

I’m just at the point in the story where it all comes together – the protagonist living today, Miriam, is just about to find a link to draw her into Maya’s world. It’s exciting, and I need to get back to it! I leave you with this thought…how well do you know your family’s history? How far back can you trace your roots? In my latest historical novel, the past greatly influences the present…