Historical Fiction Authors Rediscover Women’s Stories
Women lost to history are reimagined.
Author Marie Benedict’s website says she found
“her calling unearthing the hidden historical stories of women. Her mission is to excavate from the past the most important, complex and fascinating women of history.”
She is one of my favorite writers because she does exactly that, via engaging historical fiction. I pick up one of her books when I want to get lost in a different place and time.
Albert Einstein is revered for his genius and discoveries in physics. I had no idea that he was first married (The Other Einstein) to a woman, Mileva Maric, who was a physicist in her own right and was his early collaborator and editor. How much did she contribute to his theories?
Her own career as a physicist was short-circuited by early pregnancy and a husband, Einstein, who abandoned her.
The Personal Librarian is about a black woman, well educated, who passes for white in order to win a job as an academic librarian. Belle da Costa Greene traveled the world to develop one of the world’s great private libraries for J.P. Morgan.
Lady Clementine, Winston Churchill’s wife, is hardly unknown, but imagine what strength of character was required to be his…
