The Blue Butterfly

Listed in the Film category on Art In Fiction, The Blue Butterfly (2022) by Leslie Johansen Nack was awarded the 2023 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards Gold Medal for historical fiction.   New York, 1915: Marion Davies is a shy eighteen-year-old beauty dancing on the Broadway stage when she meets William Randolph Hearst and finds herself captivated by his riches, passion and desire to make her a movie star. Following a whirlwind courtship, she learns through trial and error to live as Hearst’s mistress when a divorce from his wife proves impossible. A baby girl is born in secret in 1919 and they agree to never acknowledge her publicly as their own.  In a burgeoning Hollywood scene, Marion works hard making movies while living a lavish partying life that includes a secret love affair with Charlie Chaplin. In late 1937, at the height of the depression, Hearst wrestles with his debtors and failing health, when Marion loans him one million dollars when nobody else will. Together, they must confront the movie that threatens to invalidate all of Marion’s successes in the movie industry: Citizen Kane. “The book reads as if it really is Davies’ autobiography . . . . a timely reminder of what women would have been up against in Hollywood.” — Historical Novel Society Before Leslie Johansen Nack started writing, she raised two children, ran a mechanical engineering business with her husband, took care of her aging mother, and dreamed of retirement when she could write full-time. She did everything late in life, including getting her degree in English Literature from UCLA at age thirty-one, only two years after she married for the second time. She lives in sunny San Diego and enjoys sailing, hiking and reading. Buy Now from Amazon Buy Now from Bookshop