During this Women’s History Month, instead of reviewing women who are already part of the known historical record, I want to focus on a female author who brings unrecognized women to life through her fascinating books of historical fiction: Marie Benedict. I have loved her writing style and choice of women since the first book I read of hers: “The Other Einstein”. I have also thoroughly enjoyed “The Personal Librarian”, “Her Hidden Genius”, “Lady Clementine”, and “The Only Woman in the Room”. To create her mesmerizing stories, Benedict uses original source material and then augments it with reliable secondary material to properly represent the historical background of her characters’ lives.
In these books, Benedict convincingly portrayed real women in science, technology, business, education, and politics, and the men in these fields. The women worked on projects in these fields that positively benefited society in their day, and today. Benedict deftly illustrated the societal forces that the women must have overcome, gone through, or gone under in order to survive and succeed. She also offered examples of possible internal monologues by these women as they struggled to decide how to deal with society’s expectations, and themselves. Yes, Benedict included male characters that trivialized, disrespected, and abused the women but she also showed men who supported, cheered on, and celebrated the women’s advancements and achievements. She did not confine herself to only American women, white women, or women from specific time periods.
In typical fashion when first reading about a woman of whom I have no knowledge, I asked myself “why have I never heard of her?” I learned about only one in school, but not till college: Rosalind Franklin of “Her Hidden Genius”. At that time in the 1980s, Franklin’s contribution in discovering DNA was minimized, with claims that she only took a picture of DNA in 1952 and did not verify what it represented. Years later, in a play at the University of Chicago, I saw her character depicted as refusing to claim her discovery prematurely, without continuous and exhausting proof. Perhaps she really did refuse. In my opinion, that made perfect sense in her time because women, and their work, were routinely dismissed (sometimes still are) unless discovered or verified by men.
Instead of feeling obligated to memorize dry facts about these women, I will more likely remember them through these rich stories. Stories might make it more interesting for children and teenagers to read about these women. Benedict's books can inspire readers to learn more about the real lives of her characters.
I cannot wait to read her latest historical novel “The Mitford Affair”!
