In March, we're diving into When We Were Brilliant by Lynn Cullen - a local author who is going to join our discussion! Come enjoy great company, lively discussion, and a cozy atmosphere. Whether you've finished or just started, you're welcome to join. A copy of the book purchased from our store is your "ticket." * This book comes out January 20th*
About The Book:
“At times it felt like I was actually reading Eve’s own words … A beautiful and moving tribute to both Eve and Monroe as well as a gripping, fascinating and rich story.” — Michael Arnold, grandson of Eve Arnold
They were an unlikely pair—a blond bombshell and a photographer determined to be taken seriously—but Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold would make a deal that would change their lives in this dazzling new novel from the national bestselling author of Mrs. Poe and The Woman with the Cure.
In 1952, Norma Jeane Baker follows documentary photographer Eve Arnold into a powder room on the night they first meet. She has a proposition for her. Norma Jeane created Marilyn Monroe to be photographed, and she wants Eve to do it. Eve is better than anyone she’s seen at revealing a person’s inner truth. Together they can help each other. Together, she says, they can make something brilliant.
Skeptical of this cipher of a young woman, Eve demurs. She’s looking for more serious subjects than this ambitious starlet. But she keeps getting drawn back into Marilyn’s orbit, and the women come to recognize something in each other—something fundamental. Nothing will get in the way of what they want, and when Marilyn’s star takes off to teetering heights, neither will ever be the same.
A lavish and transporting novel, When We Were Brilliant captures the halcyon days of an icon and the grit of women determining their own futures as it explores the exceptional and complicated friendship between Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold.
About the Author:
Cullen’s nationally and internationally bestselling novels have been translated into seventeen languages and are the recipients of various honors, including ALA Best Book, NPR Great Read, Oprah Book of the Week, People Magazine Book of the Week, Indie Next Selection, Georgia Author of the Year, and Atlanta Magazine Best of the Year. She lives in Atlanta when not traveling to seek the unseen within legends we thought we knew.
