AmazonReviews 11,108

It is 1914 in Hollywood and the craze there is the "flickers", silent motion pictures. The biggest star is Mary Pickford, "America's Sweetheart". With her long golden curls and the sweetest smiles, her fans adore her. Mary has been sole support of her mother and siblings since she was 8 years old and she will do anything to keep her popularity and wrung on the ladder of success. Never had time for a childhood, or an education, Mary has strong work ethics and is savvy in charming her powerful bosses who rule Hollywood.
When she meets Frances Marion, a "wanna be writer" for the Silver Screen, Mary tries to talk Frances into becoming an actress but fails. They become close friends and form a personal and professional bond that lasts a lifetime. They become trailblazers fighting for women's rights in the film industry, and both achieve awards, power, the love of a lifetime, and great wealth.

Mary Pickford married handsome mega-star, Douglas Fairbanks and they became the Royal Couple. They lived at Pickfair, the elegant 18 acre estate in Beverly Hills. They entertained often and lavishly but it was not the quiet, peaceful, together forever life, Mary dreamed of. In the end, Mary lost Fairbanks and lived at Pickfair alone as a recluse.
Fran Marion, too, had the love of her life, marrying Fred until he passed away. Fran became the highest paying screenwriter in Hollywood.

A dedicated fan of Melanie Benjamin, two of her books, "THE AVIATOR'S WIFE;, and 'THE LAST CHRISTMAS IN PARIS', are two of my favorites. Ms. Benjamin writes sterling historical fiction and her research is impeccable. Films have always been of keen interest to me and GIRLS IN THE PICTURE is a riveting story that takes us both in front of the camera and behind the scenes with a candid description of the fascinating happenings of that era and the sensational people who lived it. My admiration for both Mary Pickford and Frances Marion for never giving up but reaching the heights but not without heartbreak. This book is highly recommended by me. You will love it. I did!

My thanks to Random House e-newsletter giveaway that I was lucky to win. Thank you and Thank you to Melanie Benjamin for another winner. Bravo!

When I placed my order, it said on the page that there was free shipping. When I went to checkout, there was no free shipping option and I was charged $18. I got a notice of delivery email. Email stated that I was left a notification which I was not. The courier was supposed to be a company called Landmark. Tried to contact them but they have no presence in Canada and on their website it says to contact the shipping company. Called Amazon, took her 15 minutes to find the number for Landmark and then they had no one to answer her call. Pathetic from start to finish. Will never order from them again.

I feel compelled to update my review in light of Amazon's rotten service as of the past six months or so. Most of my supposed 2-day delivery orders never make it in two days, if I receive them at all (which then necessitates phone calls on my end to Amazon). The delivery companies have even posted pictures of other people's houses and claim that our house is where they delivered our packages. I've also received wrong merchandise that Amazon wanted ME to pay for to return! The delivery services they use are THE WORST! Most of the time, our packages are either shoved into our mailbox or set beside it AT THE CURB, some of them getting soaked by the rain (I'm sorry that we live on a private drive, but for $99 per year for Prime, I expect better service). But the worst situation was recently when, on Amazon's own website in the My Orders section, it was stated that a Prime Pantry order of mine (my first order with PP, by the way) had been delivered 8 DAYS BEFORE WE ACTUALLY RECEIVED IT! Not to mention that it had been placed, again, next to our mailbox, IN THE POURING RAIN! A neighbor called and told us that she saw it. The products inside that were in cardboard boxes were damp, but luckily nothing was ruined. The first person with whom I spoke at Amazon had to transfer me to another department (after dealing with ANOTHER order of mine that had been claimed on Amazon was delivered, as well, but was not). The second woman was VERY nice and said that Amazon is aware of all of the delivery problems and is working on it. I did end-up getting the choice of a refund or another box of them same items delivered for free, as well as have my $7.99 shipping cost returned (yeah, that even made it worse - the fact that I had PAID almost $8 to have THIS kind of service >:-(). It's interesting how the free box of items showed-up the next day on my doorstep:-/. Anymore, I try to find what I need on ANY other website and only go to Amazon for what I can't get anywhere else. I really don't know how much longer we'll keep our Prime subscription. Some other company needs to throw their hat in the ring and knock Amazon off its pedestal!

All of my books are from Amazon, cheap and fast delivery. Great service and return policy. That's why I love it.

It really depends on what seller you buy from with Amazon. Very hit or miss, but when you find that perfect seller you know you're getting what you pay for. I've been shopping on Amazon for a few years now and I'm usually pleased. Now when I ordered a few things a few weeks ago some of the order wasn't there. I had missing pieces too! Not a happy camper, but the seller refunded me and I'm very happy with that. I prefer to buy straight through Amazon, but sometimes I don't mind giving a seller on there a shot.

I purchased an Amazon Echo in the US to use in Canada. I originally used a US address to set it up and always wanted it to be based in Canada. I was delighted when Amazon announced the Echo would be available in Canada. I changed the address easily and all was good until I wanted to add a skill. When I tried to add the skill it told me my language need to be set to Canadian English. I went into the setting and Canadian English was not available.

I called Amazon and after being passed to 5 people, I was told it had to be resolved by Amazon Canada and someone would get back to me. They never did, but all of a sudden Canadian English could be selected but could not be saved to the Echo. I again phoned Amazon, and after trying to get me to do the same things I had already done I was told that was just too bad, it was a US device and would only work in the US, even though the language selection was there it just would not save to the device. I spoke to a supervisor (Chase) and he said he would put in a problem report, but I have no reference or timeframe. So a big International company like Amazon has a fundamental problem like not being able to save language preferences and it seems it is just too bad,

In the end they just want you to go away or buy a new device. The customer service is just bad,