HERSELF (A Novel of Summer 1962)

HERSELF, a work of biographical fiction, is the story of two individuals at crossroads. Both are starting their lives anew, racked with personal insecurities. Gradually, they bond because one of them employs the other in a unique way.

Who has the power to hire? That's Marilyn. She wants to compose her autobiography, to speak her truth about varied struggles in her career. However, organizing ideas, outlining chapters, and writing a whole book have her stymied.

She hires Eddie Leo as a researcher and potential co-author. They thrive on the same types of music, although she's fourteen years older than he is. They both love to read books. Their rapport is not merely transactional. There's more than a job or a boss at issue.

This story unfolds in June and July of 1962. She hires him two days after her 36th birthday. Less than a week later, Marilyn's studio fires her. Eddie Leo is 22, a new college graduate, and amazed by the grit she manifests choreographing a media war with her studio and getting herself rehired later in July. Everything ends in August.

Our narrator's name is Eddie Leo Shaughnessy. Her name is Marilyn Monroe. HERSELF (A Novel of Summer 1962) is their story.

"Immersive and confident ... the period details are well chosen and grounded ... It feels cinematic and intentional, with a strong grasp of how fame distorts the space around a person ... HERSELF is atmospheric literary fiction that explores fame, interior life, and cultural myths."

-Laurie Gwen Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage That Made an American Icon