How does a historian challenge the ‘misogynistic Monroe myth’ of lateness, drinking, and emotional fragility? Not by denying it, says Lucy Jane Santos, but by showing that memories can be faulty, stories retold and reshaped for their audience – and Marilyn’s own words are largely missing. And by remembering that history, like memory, is not […]
Nobody’s Perfect by Lucy Jane Santos
What happens when you bring together: a legendary director with a razor-sharp wit, a bombshell determined to prove she’s more than her appearance, a rising leading man hungry for his breakthrough, and an unflappable professional striving to keep everything together? Add a fiercely protective drama coach with a reputation at stake, a playwright under the […]
Elizabeth and Marilyn by Julie Owen Moylan
London, October, 1956. A glittering Royal Film Premiere. The whole world is watching. Tonight, Elizabeth II will formally greet an array of stars. Though she was not born to be Queen, this young mother and wife has embraced her patriotic duty and its unforgiving demands. A limousine pulls up. Out steps a vision in dazzling […]
Historian or novelist? Writing fiction based on facts
Is the historical fiction author a historian or novelist? Julie Owen Moylan considers her own experience of writing a novel based on the known facts about two iconic women in the 1950s. Writing about real people is a challenging enterprise for both novelist and historian. How can we best sum up a life of many […]