The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin is about the early days of Hollywood, especially one of the first movie stars, Mary Pickford and her friend, screenwriter Francis Marion. They forged a strong friendship during the days of silent films, but their relationship suffered in later years, especially as Mary went off on tour with husband Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin.

Not my favorite of Benjamin’s books, but great historical fiction about the early days of movies, a time when women had much more power in Hollywood than they do today.