The Girls in the Picture
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Kimberly Farr
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By:
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Melanie Benjamin
About this listen
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue and The Aviator’s Wife, a “rich exploration of two Hollywood friends who shaped the movies” (USA Today) - screenwriter Frances Marion and superstar Mary Pickford.
“Full of Old Hollywood glamour and true details about the pair’s historic careers...a captivating ode to a legendary bond.” (Real Simple)
Named one of the best books of the year by Real Simple.
It is 1914, and 25-year-old Frances Marion has left her (second) husband and her Northern California home for the lure of Los Angeles, where she is determined to live independently as an artist. But the word on everyone's lips these days is "flickers" - the silent moving pictures enthralling theatergoers. Turn any corner in this burgeoning town and you'll find made-up actors running around, as a movie camera captures it all.
In this fledgling industry, Frances finds her true calling: writing stories for this wondrous new medium. She also makes the acquaintance of actress Mary Pickford, whose signature golden curls and lively spirit have earned her the title "America's Sweetheart". The two ambitious young women hit it off instantly, their kinship fomented by their mutual fever to create, to move audiences to a frenzy, to start a revolution.
But their ambitions are challenged by both the men around them and the limitations imposed on their gender - and their astronomical success could come at a price. As Mary, the world's highest paid and most beloved actress, struggles to live her life under the spotlight, she also wonders if it is possible to find love, even with the dashing actor Douglas Fairbanks. Frances, too, longs to share her life with someone. As in any good Hollywood story, dramas will play out, personalities will clash, and even the deepest friendships might be shattered.
With cameos from such notables as Charlie Chaplin, Louis B. Mayer, Rudolph Valentino, and Lillian Gish, The Girls in the Picture is, at its heart, a story of friendship and forgiveness. Melanie Benjamin perfectly captures the dawn of a glittering new era - its myths and icons, its possibilities and potential, and its seduction and heartbreak.
“A boffo production.... Inspiration is a rare and unexpected gift in a book filled with the fluff of Hollywood, but Benjamin provides it with The Girls in the Picture.” (NPR)
“Profoundly resonant, The Girls in the Picture is at its core, an empowering and fascinating tale of sisterhood.” (Bryce Dallas Howard)
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Critic reviews
"Set at the dawn of Hollywood, The Girls in the Picture explores the friendship between renowned starlet Mary Pickford and screenwriter Frances Marion. With the artistry for which she has become renowned, Melanie Benjamin has simultaneously created an insightful tale of the relationship between writer and muse and a breathtaking view into Hollywood's most glittering era." (Pam Jenoff, New York Times best-selling author of The Orphan's Tale)
"Melanie Benjamin's The Girls in the Picture is a scintillating journey back in time to the gritty and glamorous days of old Hollywood. With elegant prose and delicious historical detail, Benjamin delivers a timely tale of female friendship - and the powerful duo who dared to dream beyond the narrow roles into which they'd been cast." (Allison Pataki, New York Times best-selling author of Where the Light Falls and Sisi)
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When legendary film director Dorian Rasmirez gambles his fortune on an opulent remake of Wuthering Heights, he knows it’s his last chance to salvage his career. Thanks to a bitter public feud with producer Harry Greene, Dorian desperately needs a hit - a big one - and he’ll do anything to get it. Even cast Hollywood bad girl Sabrina Leon in the lead role. Plucked from obscurity, Sabrina catapulted to fame at an early age. Now the young starlet is as famous for her battles with drugs and alcohol as she is for her intoxicating beauty.
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Started out with good intentions
- By BookLuvr on 06-28-14
By: Tilly Bagshawe
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Gold Dust
- By: Kimberley Freeman
- Narrated by: Jennifer Vuletic
- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Three women linked by their blood, their dreams...and their sins. From Leningrad in the '70s to America and London in the present day, Kimberley Freeman's new novel follows the lives of two sisters, Lena and Natalia, and their cousin, Sofi, as they move away from Russia and all they have known. Despite promising to always take care of each other, a pact to meet every winter is shattered as their lives change and long-held resentments begin to surface. Can that resentment turn to hatred? To murder?
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It's just not the same without Caroline Lee
- By Maria on 12-04-17
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American Rose
- A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee
- By: Karen Abbott
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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With the critically acclaimed Sin in the Second City, best-selling author Karen Abbott “pioneered sizzle history” (USA Today). Now she returns with the gripping and expansive story of America’s coming-of-age - told through the extraordinary life of Gypsy Rose Lee and the world she survived and conquered. America in the Roaring Twenties. Vaudeville was king. Talking pictures were only a distant flicker. Speakeasies beckoned beyond dimly lit doorways; money flowed fast and free.
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Well done biography of a complicated Icon
- By Moire on 01-27-11
By: Karen Abbott
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Silver Wattle
- By: Belinda Alexandra
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In fear for their lives after the sudden death of their mother, Adéla and Klára must flee Prague to find refuge with their uncle in Australia. Later, Adéla becomes a film director at a time when the local industry is starting to feel the competition from Hollywood. But even while success is imminent, the issues of family and an impossible love are never far away.
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Groan, Snore and Wince!
- By OrangeWisteria on 02-12-12
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Grand Central
- Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion
- By: Melanie Benjamin, Amanda Hodgkinson, Pam Jenoff, and others
- Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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On any particular day, thousands upon thousands of people pass through New York City's Grand Central Terminal, through the whispering gallery, beneath the ceiling of stars, and past the information booth and its beckoning four-faced clock, to whatever destination is calling them. It is a place where people come to say hello and good-bye. And each person has a story to tell.
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Grand Central: Memories
- By ZacharyKindle Customer on 05-03-17
By: Melanie Benjamin, and others
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Dear Cary
- My Life with Cary Grant
- By: Dyan Cannon
- Narrated by: Dyan Cannon
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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With unparalleled honesty, Dyan Cannon shares the heartwarming and heartbreaking story of her magical romance and stormy marriage to screen legend Cary Grant.He was the ultimate star, defining Hollywood glamour as well as cinematic achievement. She was a bright new actress, beautiful and funny, who would one day prove her talent by being the first woman to receive Academy Award nominations for her work on-screen and behind the camera. When he asked to meet Dyan, she assumed it was for an acting part, but he had a different role in mind for her....
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A Wasted 10 Hours
- By NANCAN on 10-19-12
By: Dyan Cannon
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The Actor and the Housewife
- By: Shannon Hale
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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When Becky, a housewife with screenwriting dreams, attracts the interest of Felix, a Hollywood star, the two quickly become friends. Though the sexual tension is obvious, Becky has no intention of cheating on her husband - but would Felix cheat on his wife? As their friendship blossoms, rumors and suspicion threaten to derail their platonic love.
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Thought Provoking
- By sts2000 on 09-14-09
By: Shannon Hale
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Wild Lavender
- By: Belinda Alexandra
- Narrated by: Kate Hood
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Simone Fleurier is wrenched from her home on a Provencal lavender farm at the age of 14 after the accidental death of her father. Forced to become a maid at the boarding house of her Aunt Augustine in Marseilles, Simone's life is hard and impoverished. But one of her aunt's boarders, the beautiful Camille Casal, a star at the local music hall, gives Simone a dream: that one day she too will be a famous singer and dancer.
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An Extrodinary Story
- By Wade on 08-16-08
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The Mayfair Bookshop
- A Novel of Nancy Mitford and the Pursuit of Happiness
- By: Eliza Knight
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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1938: She was one of the six sparkling Mitford sisters, known for her stinging quips, stylish dress, and bright green eyes. But Nancy Mitford’s seemingly dazzling life was really one of turmoil: with a perpetually unfaithful and broke husband, two Nazi sympathizer sisters, and her hopes of motherhood dashed forever. With war imminent, Nancy finds respite by taking a job at the Heywood Hill Bookshop in Mayfair, hoping to make ends meet, and discovers a new life.
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Perfectly Voices, Upliftingly Fun
- By Syd Young on 04-15-22
By: Eliza Knight
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The Girl from the Savoy
- A Novel
- By: Hazel Gaynor
- Narrated by: Jennifer Jones, Lucy Rayner, Paul Fox
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Dolly Lane is a dreamer, a downtrodden maid who longs to dance on the London stage, but her life has been fractured by the Great War. Memories of the soldier she loved, of secret shame and profound loss, by turns pull her back and spur her on to make a better life. When she finds employment as a chambermaid at London's grandest hotel, The Savoy, Dolly takes a step closer to the glittering lives of the Bright Young Things who thrive on champagne, jazz, and rebellion.
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WONDERFUL‼️❤️❤️❤️
- By Leslie Gail Mnich on 12-05-19
By: Hazel Gaynor
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Veil of Roses
- By: Laura Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Tamila Soroush wanted it all. But in the Islamic Republic of Iran, dreams are a dangerous thing for a girl. Tami abandons them…until her twenty-seventh birthday, when her parents give her a one-way ticket to America, hoping she will “go and wake up her luck.” If they have their way, Tami will never return to Iran…which means she has three months to find a husband in America.
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Rooting for freedom
- By Newman on 07-10-13
By: Laura Fitzgerald
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Joplin's Ghost
- By: Tananarive Due
- Narrated by: Lizan Mitchell
- Length: 21 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Bram Stoker Award finalist Tananarive Due crafts chilling tales of suspense.
In Joplin's Ghost, 24-year-old R&B phenomenon Phoenix Smalls is on the cusp of fame and fortune. But she is haunted by the spirit of Jazz legend Scott Joplin. After a series of sultry, erotic encounters with the ghost, and with the pressures of stardom closing in on her, Phoenix begins to fear for her life and career.
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Sweeping--a fabulous read
- By Dinisle on 12-24-06
By: Tananarive Due
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Once upon a Prince
- A Royal Happily Ever After
- By: Rachel Hauck
- Narrated by: Lisa Larsen
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Susanna Truitt never dreamed of a great romance or being treated like a princess — just to marry the man she has loved for 12 years. But life isn’t going according to plan. When her high-school-sweetheart-turned-Marine-officer breaks up with her instead of proposing, Susanna scrambles to rebuild her life.
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Too much religion
- By Ashley on 06-15-21
By: Rachel Hauck
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Duet
- By: Kimberley Freeman
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 19 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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From the London pop scene, to the opera stages of Europe; from a tiny Greek island, to a stifling manor house full of secrets and deceptions; from the sun-drenched Queensland coast, to the silent outback; Angela and Ellie are two women both looking for something. One in search of her identity and her memory; the other in search of the love that she had and lost; theirs is a duet whose last note will not be sung until the heart-stopping climax, when a shadow from the past returns to claim them both.
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Gosh that was a great story!
- By Anonymous User on 06-10-09
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In 1950, Ingrid Bergman - already a major star after movies like Casablanca and Joan of Arc - has a baby out of wedlock with her Italian lover, film director Roberto Rossellini. Previously held up as an icon of purity, Bergman's fall shocks her legions of American fans. Growing up in Hollywood, Jessica Malloy watched as her PR executive father helps make Ingrid a star at Selznick Studio. Over years of fleeting interactions with the actress, Jesse came to idolize Ingrid.
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What listeners say about The Girls in the Picture
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Joan
- 02-15-18
Fabulous
I truly like the author and have read several of her other books. It’s difficult to remember that she writes biographical novels. I have read nonfiction about this era in films so they melded together. Great book that I highly recommend. Issues with successful women don’t seem to have changed much!
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- RueRue
- 01-29-18
Disappointing
A big disappointment. I've enjoyed this author's previous books, but this was a bore. In the dedication, the author thanks an editor who "rescued this from the slush pile". It should have been left there, or at least been given a MAJOR rewrite. I'm sorry to be cruel, but this was really dull.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Aaron Leonard
- 02-12-18
More Fran, a little less Mary.
I enjoyed learning more about the life and career of Francis Marion. The Mary Pickford portions weren’t as interesting. I found the narrator completely wrong to voice these young, vibrant women.
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3 people found this helpful
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- crissy
- 06-05-19
beautiful story of two women
I loved this book. i have always been fascinated with the early stars of the movies. This book was fun and tragic and everything in between. The author does a great job of giving the characters a voice.
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- Anne
- 04-25-18
Melanie Benjamin is the master of this genre.
Nobody writes character-centric historical fiction better than Melanie Benjamin. Her story of Frances Marion, Mary Pickford and the early days of Hollywood is not only entertaining, but informative and enlightening as well.
As for the narration: Kimberly Farr is a fantastic actress, and I will definitely listen to other books she narrates.
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- G. Rosson
- 02-15-20
interesting subject, a bit melodramatic
I like old Hollywood stories. this historical fiction had some interesting info, but the dramatization didn't work for me.
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- TLC
- 07-25-18
Narration kills it
I think I might have tolerated the book quite a bit more had the narration not been so horribly overdone. It was really hard to listen to.
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- ATD
- 08-05-18
Stick with it
Story is hard to get into but is interesting. It serves as good background to current Hollywood.
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- Elle Knowles
- 01-29-18
You will want to know more...
As always with one of Melanie Benjamin’s novels, I want to know more. Her writing makes me ask questions, do research, and read more about the stars of her books. I’m addicted to historical fiction and old movies so here I had a combination of both. Another wonderful story of days gone by that made me to read through until the end with hardly a break...
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- Pamela
- 03-20-18
If you’re a movie buff-this book is for you!
I absolutely loved this book. I find the history of early Hollywood and the growth of the film industry to be fascinating.
I never knew much about Mary Pickford and I knew nothing about screen writer Frances Marion. It is truly amazing how much women influenced the movies.
Although almost all studio heads were men, this industry paved the way for the women of today.
I am grateful to these women who let nothing stop them and realized the force that women’s friendship could make almost anything possible.
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