The Mod Woman Book Club March Pick - You Decide

Hello Modders! It’s been awhile. I took last week off to attend to some personal business but I am back and a bit shocked that it’s time to pick another book for The Mod Woman Book Club. February always throws me off and I always forget how short it is. I went through quite a few book synopsis’ before landing upon the two options for March. Both of them jumped out to me for different reasons.

The first, The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict, is a book based on a real person who led a fascinating life. Film star, Hedy Lamar. I first learned about Hedy Lamar’s unconventional and fascinating double life on the You Must Remember This podcast. Hedy Lamar was a film star - but also an amateur scientist whose work directly helped the allies during WW!!. Crazy, right?

The second option is a story that spoke to me maybe because I love Doctor Who or maybe because I love Outlander. Probably both. What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon, centers around a young woman who travels to Ireland to learn more about her grandfather’s history. She is pulled back in time into 1920’s Ireland during the struggle for Ireland’s independence.

She possessed a stunning beauty. She also possessed a stunning mind. Could the world handle both?

Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich's plans while at her husband's side, understanding more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee in disguise from their castle, and the whirlwind escape landed her in Hollywood. She became Hedy Lamarr, screen star.

But she kept a secret more shocking than her heritage or her marriage: she was a scientist. And she knew a few secrets about the enemy. She had an idea that might help the country fight the Nazis...if anyone would listen to her.

A powerful novel based on the incredible true story of the glamour icon and scientist whose groundbreaking invention revolutionized modern communication, The Only Woman in the Room is a masterpiece.

Anne Gallagher grew up enchanted by her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time.

The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas Smith, guardian to a young boy who is oddly familiar. Mistaken for the boy’s long-missing mother, Anne adopts her identity, convinced the woman’s disappearance is connected to her own.

As tensions rise, Thomas joins the struggle for Ireland’s independence and Anne is drawn into the conflict beside him. Caught between history and her heart, she must decide whether she’s willing to let go of the life she knew for a love she never thought she’d find. But in the end, is the choice actually hers to make?

Which one catches your imagination? Vote in the poll below to help pick March’s book!