Atlanta author’s new book a revealing look at Marilyn Monroe

Atlanta author Lynn Cullen was just 7 when Marilyn Monroe died in 1962, and she’s been fascinated by the iconic movie star ever since. It wasn’t Monroe’s sex appeal that drew Cullen’s attention; it was her vulnerability.

As a New York Times bestselling author of historical novels about intriguing heroines, including “Mrs. Poe” and “The Woman With The Cure,” Cullen spent years wanting to write about Monroe. But finding an original approach to a subject about which volumes had been written proved difficult.

Then Cullen stumbled across a startling fact: Of all the many professionals who photographed Monroe, only one was a woman ― Eve Arnold, a documentary photographer who had a long, accomplished career distinguished by her disdain for artifice.

The women formed an unlikely friendship and Arnold photographed Monroe many times over the course of her career, including on the set of her last film, “The Misfits.”

That discovery sent Cullen down a rabbit hole of research resulting in her captivating new book, “When We Were Brilliant” (Berkley, $30), a fictional telling of the women’s friendship.

It is a revealing read about a complex relationship that deepened over time between two creative, ambitious women, who, despite the gender constraints of the time, achieved extraordinary success..

An excerpt of a conversation with Cullen about her new book follows.

What surprised you most from your research?

Honestly, every day was a surprise. The first one was, oh my goodness, there was only woman photographer. And she chose Eve. Why did she choose Eve? Because Eve was known as a documentary photographer. In fact, Eve made a big deal of not using artificial light, just using the light available. No retouching. She just wanted natural. And Marilyn knew this quite well. … She saw that Eve wanted to tell the truth about people and she wanted that. You’d think she’d want to hide behind her glamorous facade, but she really wanted to be seen.

Oh, and I’ll tell you another big surprise. Marilyn had endometriosis that really impacted her life. She was in a lot of pain often. It caused her to be unable to have a baby. She miscarried several times. … It totally shaped her life. … I brought it up to my daughter and she said, “You know, isn’t it ironic: That sex symbol probably had painful sex.”

What do you think bonded Marilyn and Eve’s friendship?

They were both really, really creative geniuses and they loved sparking off each other. They just happened to have this chemistry where they brought out the best in each other. In fact ― this made me really sad, Eve said this in interviews and various places ― but she never found anybody like Marilyn again. And she had a very long career. She lived to 99, almost 100, and was photographing well into her 80s, and she photographed everybody … but she never found anybody who made her feel so brilliant. That’s how she put it: We were so brilliant together. And nobody made her feel like that ever again.

What prompted you to make the unusual choice of writing this book in a second person point of view with Eve addressing Marilyn?

I had no idea I was going to do it like this. I had been working on a draft for six months or so. I was about 60 pages in and I accidentally wrote down a line, it was Eve talking about Marilyn, but she started saying “you” instead of “her.” And I realized, oh my gosh, this book is Eve talking to Marilyn. That’s what this is all about. I didn’t know it was Eve’s love letter to Marilyn, really. So, once I understood that she was writing this to Marilyn … the book came so much more quickly …

You know, every book has its music. I know that sounds corny, but it’s true. Every book has its music. You can just feel it. You can hear it. That’s when the music began, when Eve started talking to Marilyn.

Suzanne Van Atten is a columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She may be reached at suzanne.vanatten@ajc.com.

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