ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve written about STEM heroes, actresses, and authors.
What made you decide on Rosalind Franklin for your next book?
She made such an enormous impact.
‘Her Hidden Genius’ by Marie Benedict.Sourcebooks Landmark
Her legacy is so vast that she seemed like the perfect fit.
As I dug deeper into her story, I realized there were so many other layers to it.
But in some circles, Rosalind has become really iconic in her own right.
Rosalind Franklin died when she was a young woman, and her death is encompassed in the book.
They were cut short because of her early death.
But something about her early death really propelled me to write the story.
That really intense exposure may well have triggered her cancer.
Was there something that really surprised you about her in your research?
Maybe a common misconception?
That information was taken without her knowledge or permission.
He depicted Rosalind Franklin as this sullen, dark, unhelpful woman, the quintessential unhappy woman scientist.
That depiction sparked a biography in response by a good friend of hers to set the story straight.
It was a call to look at her through a different light.
My book is a follow-up.
You’re writing about real historical figures but in a work of fiction.
How does that unfold for you?
I’m always attracted to original source material.
I want letters and journals [written] in the person’s own hand.
For women, that’s not always available.
Then I create what is almost the architecture of the story.
All that data and research form the foundation, the pillars and the roof.
But there are always gaps between those pillars that the research can’t illuminate.
It can’t tell us the answers.
It’s in those areas that the fiction comes in.
But that fiction is a logical extrapolation of what the research does tell us.
It’s my version of this woman and her life.
But I feel such a strong sense of responsibility to these women.
I hope my fictional version of them really honors the truth of their lives.
That is very, very rare in writing books like these.
That is exactly how I feel.
I feel like good historical fiction gives us a glimpse into the lives they really did have.
I write fiction, but I’m fleshing out their worlds.
It’s those things that turn us into women that leave vast and wide legacies.
I love the DNA helix effect of the shading on the cover.
Where did that idea come from?
It’s so unique.
The way they took those symbols and interpreted them for this cover is genius.
Why choose blue and pink for the colors?
I know they wanted to do something very color-saturated.
There’s nothing subtle about [these colors].
They’re bold, which is an allusion to Rosalind herself.
She was unapologetic about her intellect.
She was not afraid to voice her opinions or disagree with people.
That struck some of her fellow scientists the wrong way.
Everywhere Rosalind Franklin went, she left a wave in her wake.
Her Hidden Geniusis out Jan. 25, 2022.
