And, in fact, there was at least one significant factual error – the novel represented that she adopted her first son, James, who was supposedly a European Jewish orphan. And I’m a little uncomfortable with historical fiction where real people are characters because all the dialog and the characters’ thoughts are completely made up, which makes me wonder about the accuracy of the facts. Hedy is the narrator, which is sometimes awkward, especially when she is talking about her own great beauty. I had a mixed reaction to The Only Woman in the Room. This guilt provided at least partial motivation for Hedy to design the torpedo guidance system, which was initially rejected by the military but later adopted. She felt tremendous guilt for not telling the world about Hitler’s plan for the Jews. She also socialized with other European-born actors, who shared news from their homeland. In Hollywood, she acted in a lot of movies and ran through a lot of men.

Mayer and signed a lucrative contract with MGM studios. She fled her marriage in 1937 because her husband was an abusive control freak. During this time, she also developed an interest in the technical side of her husband’s munitions business. One of the last conversations she overheard was Hitler speaking about eliminating Jews from German society. Through the social events her husband hosted, she was introduced to many political figures, including Mussolini, and privy to confidential conversations. At nineteen, she married a wealthy munitions mogul named Fritz Mandl, nicknamed The Merchant of Death. Here’s a quick summary of The Only Woman in the Room: Lamarr was born in Austria in 1914 to prominent Jewish parents and came of age when Hitler was coming to power, which shaped the rest of her life.

Roomies book review