Most Popular Books by Melanie Benjamin

BONUS: This edition contains an Alice I Have Been discussion guide and an excerpt from Melanie Benjamin's The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb. Few works of literature are as universally beloved as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Now, in this spellbinding historical novel, we meet the young girl whose bright spirit sent her on an unforgettable trip down the rabbit hole–and the grown woman whose story is no less enthralling. But oh my dear, I am tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Does it sound ungrateful? Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life has been a richly woven tapestry: As a young woman, wife, mother, and widow, she’s experienced intense passion, great privilege, and greater tragedy. But as she nears her eighty-first birthday, she knows that, to the world around her, she is and will always be only “Alice.” Her life was permanently dog-eared at one fateful moment in her tenth year–the golden summer day she urged a grown-up friend to write down one of his fanciful stories. That story, a wild tale of rabbits, queens, and a precocious young child, becomes a sensation the world over. Its author, a shy, stuttering Oxford professor, does more than immortalize Alice–he changes her life forever. But even he cannot stop time, as much as he might like to. And as Alice’s childhood slips away, a peacetime of glittering balls and royal romances gives way to the urgent tide of war. For Alice, the stakes could not be higher, for she is the mother of three grown sons, soldiers all. Yet even as she stands to lose everything she treasures, one part of her will always be the determined, undaunted Alice of the story, who discovered that life beyond the rabbit hole was an astonishing journey. A love story and a literary mystery, Alice I Have Been brilliantly blends fact and fiction to capture the passionate spirit of a woman who was truly worthy of her fictional alter ego, in a world as captivating as the Wonderland only she could inspire.

In the spirit of Loving Frank and The Paris Wife, acclaimed novelist Melanie Benjamin pulls back the curtain on the marriage of one of America’s most extraordinary couples: Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. “The history [is] exhilarating. . . . The Aviator’s Wife soars.”—USA Today NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER When Anne Morrow, a shy college senior with hidden literary aspirations, travels to Mexico City to spend Christmas with her family, she meets Colonel Charles Lindbergh, fresh off his celebrated 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic. Enthralled by Charles’s assurance and fame, Anne is certain the aviator has scarcely noticed her. But she is wrong. Charles sees in Anne a kindred spirit, a fellow adventurer, and her world will be changed forever. The two marry in a headline-making wedding. In the years that follow, Anne becomes the first licensed female glider pilot in the United States. But despite this and other major achievements, she is viewed merely as the aviator’s wife. The fairy-tale life she once longed for will bring heartbreak and hardships, ultimately pushing her to reconcile her need for love and her desire for independence, and to embrace, at last, life’s infinite possibilities for change and happiness. Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. Praise for The Aviator’s Wife “Remarkable . . . The Aviator’s Wife succeeds [in] putting the reader inside Anne Lindbergh’s life with her famous husband.”—The Denver Post “Anne Morrow Lindbergh narrates the story of the Lindberghs’ troubled marriage in all its triumph and tragedy.”—USA Today “[This novel] will fascinate history buffs and surprise those who know of her only as ‘the aviator’s wife.’ ”—People “It’s hard to quit reading this intimate historical fiction.”—The Dallas Morning News “Fictional biography at its finest.”—Booklist (starred review) “Utterly unforgettable.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “An intimate examination of the life and emotional mettle of Anne Morrow.”—The Washington Post “A story of both triumph and pain that will take your breath away.”—Kate Alcott, author of The Dressmaker

Two sisters navigate the thrilling, euphoric early days of California surf culture in this dazzling saga of ambition, sacrifice, and the tangled ties between mothers and daughters from the New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator's Wife. "A shimmering rendering . . . pairs the surf culture of the Beach Boys with the sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll of Daisy Jones & The Six."--Entertainment Weekly ("Best Books of the Summer") Southern California, 1960s: endless sunny days surfing in Malibu, followed by glittering neon nights at Whisky a Go Go. In an era when women are expected to be housewives, Carol Donnelly breaks the mold as a legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a male-dominated sport--and her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bear the weight of Carol's unconventional lifestyle. The Donnelly sisters grow up enduring their mother's absence--physically, when she's at the beach, and emotionally, the rare times she's at home. To escape questions about Carol's whereabouts--and to chase her elusive affection--they cut school to spend their days in the surf. From her first time on a board, Mindy is a natural, but Ginger, two years younger, feels out of place in the water. As they grow up and their lives diverge, Mindy and Ginger's relationship ebbs and flows. Mindy finds herself swept up in celebrity, complete with beachside love affairs, parties at the Playboy Club, and a USO tour in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Ginger, desperate for a community of her own, is tugged into the dangerous counterculture of drugs and cults. But through it all, their sense of duty to each other survives, as the girls are forever connected by the emotional damage they carry from their unorthodox childhood. A gripping, emotional story set at a time when mothers were expected to be Donna Reed, not Gidget, California Golden is an unforgettable novel about three women living in a society that was shifting as tempestuously as the breaking waves.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Aviator’s Wife returns with a triumphant new novel about New York’s “Swans” of the 1950s—and the scandalous, headline-making, and enthralling friendship between literary legend Truman Capote and peerless socialite Babe Paley. People’s Book of the Week • USA Today’s #1 “New and Noteworthy” Book • Entertainment Weekly’s Must List • LibraryReads Top Ten Pick Of all the glamorous stars of New York high society, none blazes brighter than Babe Paley. Her flawless face regularly graces the pages of Vogue, and she is celebrated and adored for her ineffable style and exquisite taste, especially among her friends—the alluring socialite Swans Slim Keith, C. Z. Guest, Gloria Guinness, and Pamela Churchill. By all appearances, Babe has it all: money, beauty, glamour, jewels, influential friends, a prestigious husband, and gorgeous homes. But beneath this elegantly composed exterior dwells a passionate woman—a woman desperately longing for true love and connection. Enter Truman Capote. This diminutive golden-haired genius with a larger-than-life personality explodes onto the scene, setting Babe and her circle of Swans aflutter. Through Babe, Truman gains an unlikely entrée into the enviable lives of Manhattan’s elite, along with unparalleled access to the scandal and gossip of Babe’s powerful circle. Sure of the loyalty of the man she calls “True Heart,” Babe never imagines the destruction Truman will leave in his wake. But once a storyteller, always a storyteller—even when the stories aren’t his to tell. Truman’s fame is at its peak when such notable celebrities as Frank and Mia Sinatra, Lauren Bacall, and Rose Kennedy converge on his glittering Black and White Ball. But all too soon, he’ll ignite a literary scandal whose repercussions echo through the years. The Swans of Fifth Avenue will seduce and startle readers as it opens the door onto one of America’s most sumptuous eras. Praise for The Swans of Fifth Avenue “Exceptional storytelling . . . teeming with scandal, gossip and excitement.”—Harper’s Bazaar “This moving fictionalization brings the whole cast of characters back to vivid life. Gossipy and fun, it’s also a nuanced look at the beauty and cruelty of a rarefied, bygone world.”—People “The era and the sordid details come back to life in this jewel of a novel.”—O: The Oprah Magazine

Draws on oral histories of the Great Plains blizzard of 1888 to depict the experiences of two teachers, a servant, and a reporter who risk everything to protect the children of immigrant homesteaders.

Ten bestselling authors inspired by New York City's iconic Grand Central Terminal have created their own stories, set on the same day, just after the end of World War II, in a time of hope, uncertainty, change, and renewal…. A war bride awaits the arrival of her GI husband at the platform…A Holocaust survivor works at the Oyster Bar, where a customer reminds him of his late mother…A Hollywood hopeful anticipates her first screen test and a chance at stardom in the Kissing Room… On any particular day, thousands upon thousands of people pass through Grand Central, 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. Featuring stories from Melanie Benjamin, Jenna Blum, Amanda Hodgkinson, Pam Jenoff, Sarah Jio, Sarah McCoy, Kristina McMorris, Alyson Richman, Erika Robuck, and Karen White With an Introduction by #1 New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah

Mid-nineteenth-century little person Mercy Levinia Warren Bump comes of age in the antebellum south before being invited to join the P. T. Barnum circus, through which she meets her future husband, General Tom Thumb, and pursues limitless international opportunities.

A captivating novel based on the story of the extraordinary real-life American woman who secretly worked for the French Resistance during World War II—while playing hostess to the invading Germans at the iconic Hôtel Ritz in Paris—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator's Wife and The Swans of Fifth Avenue. “A compelling portrait of a marriage and a nation at war from within.”—Kate Quinn, author of The Alice Network Nothing bad can happen at the Ritz; inside its gilded walls every woman looks beautiful, every man appears witty. Favored guests like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Coco Chanel, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor walk through its famous doors to be welcomed and pampered by Blanche Auzello and her husband, Claude, the hotel’s director. The Auzellos are the mistress and master of the Ritz, allowing the glamour and glitz to take their minds off their troubled marriage, and off the secrets that they keep from their guests—and each other. Until June 1940, when the German army sweeps into Paris, setting up headquarters at the Ritz. Suddenly, with the likes of Hermann Goëring moving into suites once occupied by royalty, Blanche and Claude must navigate a terrifying new reality. One that entails even more secrets and lies. One that may destroy the tempestuous marriage between this beautiful, reckless American and her very proper Frenchman. For in order to survive—and strike a blow against their Nazi “guests”—Blanche and Claude must spin a web of deceit that ensnares everything and everyone they cherish. But one secret is shared between Blanche and Claude alone—the secret that, in the end, threatens to imperil both of their lives, and to bring down the legendary Ritz itself. Based on true events, Mistress of the Ritz is a taut tale of suspense wrapped up in a love story for the ages, the inspiring story of a woman and a man who discover the best in each other amid the turbulence of war. Praise for Mistress of the Ritz “No one writes of the complexities of women’s lives and loves like Melanie Benjamin. In Mistress of the Ritz, Benjamin brings wartime Paris brilliantly to life. . . . Intense, illuminating, and ultimately inspiring!”—Elizabeth Letts, New York Times bestselling author of Finding Dorothy

From the New York Times bestselling 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 twenty-five-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 brilliantly 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

Melanie Benjamin introduces readers to the lavish, heady world of her novel The Swans of Fifth Avenue with this exclusive ebook short story! In this enchanting prequel, New York society and Hollywood royalty collide during the doomed and decadent life of Ernest Hemingway. Spain, 1959. Slim Hawks Hayward likes to think she doesn’t get jealous. But when her dear friend Lauren “Betty” Bacall learns that Papa Hemingway has come to watch the bullfights and insists that Slim make introductions, she can’t help feeling protective. Slim has known Papa for years. He always makes her feel like the most beautiful woman in the room—even when his wife is standing right beside him. Truth be told, Slim could have learned to love him all those years ago, in the streets of Havana or the mountains of the American West. Now, Slim is sure that Papa will fall for Betty. What she doesn’t anticipate is the feeling that Papa himself has changed—and their relationship will never be the same. Features a captivating preview of Melanie Benjamin’s highly anticipated novel The Swans of Fifth Avenue! Advance praise for Melanie Benjamin’s The Swans of Fifth Avenue “The strange and fascinating relationship between Truman Capote and his ‘swans’ is wonderfully reimagined in this engrossing novel. It’s a credit to Benjamin that we end up caring so much for these women of power, grace, and beauty—and for Capote, too.”—Sara Gruen, New York Times bestselling author of Water for Elephants “A delicious tale . . . Melanie Benjamin has turned Truman Capote’s greatest scandal into your next must-read book-club selection.”—Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet “Reading The Swans of Fifth Avenue is like being ushered into a party where you’re offered champagne and fed the sumptuous secrets of New York’s elite—without having to pay the price afterward. The swans are outmatched only by the elegance of Melanie Benjamin’s prose—captivatingly earnest and sophisticated.”—Vanessa Diffenbaugh, New York Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers “Benjamin convincingly portrays a large cast of colorful historical figures while crafting a compelling, gossipy narrative with rich emotional depth.”—Library Journal

Parigi, 1940. L’esercito francese si è sfaldato come uno dei friabili pasticcini di Monsieur Escoffier e i nazisti dilagano per le strade della città. Occupano alberghi ed edifici storici senza alcun riguardo per il loro glorioso passato. Tra questi, l’Hôtel Ritz, in Place Vendôme, una delle sacre istituzioni della vita mondana parigina. Meta di principi e duchesse, di Marcel Proust e Sarah Bernhardt, di scrittori e stelle del cinema sin dal lontano 1898, quando ha spalancato per la prima volta le sue porte offrendo ai suoi ospiti bagni privati, telefoni in ogni stanza, luci elettriche e le più squisite creazioni di Auguste Escoffier – meringhe farcite di crema alla vaniglia, tournedos alla Rossini, saporiti pâté – l’Hôtel Ritz è di proprietà dell’omonima famiglia ed è il regno incontrastato di Blanche Ross e Claude Auzello. Capelli biondi, grandi occhi castani e un sorriso abbagliante, Blanche è approdata a Parigi negli anni Venti col sogno di diventare una diva del fiorente cinema francese del tempo. Sogno presto abbandonato nell’istante in cui si è imbattuta in Claude, un giovane che coi suoi modi pacati e sicuri ha subito conquistato il suo cuore di americana caparbia e irruente, pronta a infiammarsi contro le avversità del mondo. Dopo diciassette anni di vita vissuta insieme, e dopo aver coltivato e poi realizzato insieme l’ambizioso progetto di Claude di dirigere l’Hôtel Ritz, i due si ritrovano a occuparsi del prestigioso albergo non più per conto di Mme Ritz, la vedova di César Ritz, ma al servizio di arroganti ufficiali nazisti. La vita al Ritz è in apparenza sempre la stessa: la lussuosa opulenza, le maniere cortesi, le chiacchiere futili. Ma niente è come prima. Al posto della Garbo e della Dietrich adagiate sulle seggiole in pose seducenti ci sono ora Coco Chanel e la star del cinema Arletty, al posto di Picasso e Porter, i vari Hans e Fritz in uniforme. Troppo per Blanche Ross, americana infiammata dal coraggio e... maestra nell’arte dell’inganno. Storia di un amore e, insieme, di un Grand Hôtel tra le cui mura sono state scritte alcune delle pagine più oscure e valorose del Novecento, Blanche e Claude costituisce una splendida conferma del talento dell’autrice de I cigni della Quinta Strada.

Traducere și note de Florica Sincu În 2016, în SUA: bestseller New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, O: The Oprah Magazine, People Magazine, Harper's Bazaar; inclus în Entertainment Weekly’s Must List și Library Reads Top Ten Pick. Admirabil scris, romanul Lebedele de pe Fifth Avenue, inspirat din fapte reale, oferă o plimbare ficțională într-o lume apusă, înalta societate newyorkeză a primelor decenii de după cel de-al Doilea Război Mondial, avându-i în prim-plan pe scriitorul Truman Capote, cu farmecul, duplicitatea, narcisismul și vulnerabilitatea lui, alături de muzele sale, dintre care se detașează Babe Paley, cu tragica ei splendoare. „O întreagă epocă și aspectele ei sordide prind viață în această bijuterie de roman.“ (O: The Oprah Magazine) „Ciudata și fascinanta relație dintre Truman Capote și „lebedele“ sale — Babe, Slim, Gloria și celelalte stele ale perioadei ilustrând ca o radiografie lumea lor — este transfigurată și înfățișată cu măiestrie în acest roman, în care fiecare personaj are un comportament detestabil, deși nu lipsit de amuzament. Meritul lui Melanie Benjamin constă în faptul că reușește să stârnească empatia cititorilor atât pentru aceste femei care dețin putere, grație și frumusețe, cât și pentru Truman Capote.“ (Sara Gruen, autoarea romanelor Apă pentru elefanți și La marginea apei) „Cei care apreciază splendorile vechiului New York vor savura acest prilej de a retrăi viața celor bogați și faimoși (chiar și pasiunile lor vestimentare!). Melanie Benjamin ne oferă portrete convingătoare ale unor personalități reale, într-o narațiune îmbibată de rumori ale vremii, cuceritoare și totodată de o mare profunzime emoțională.“ (Library Journal) „Lectura Lebedelor de pe Fifth Avenue este asemenea unei participări la o petrecere unde se servește șampanie și, pe tavă, secretele somptuoase ale elitei newyorkeze, fără să fie nimic de plătit. Eleganța „lebedelor“ nu e întrecută decât de eleganța scrisului lui Melanie Benjamin, captivant prin simplitate și rafinament.“ (Vanessa Diffenbaugh, autoarea romanului Limbajul florilor)

En los años 50, Truman Capote se relaciona con las que él denominaba sus "cisnes", mujeres influyentes de la época de las que gustaba rodearse, si no con intenciones amorosas, dada su condición gay, sí por su excesivo gusto por el glamour y la alta sociedad.