Barnes & Noble has announced its first national Book Club selection for 2019: The Only Woman in the Room (Sourcebooks, 2019) by Boston College alumna Marie Benedict. A historical novel, The Only Woman in the Room tells the story of Hedy Lamarr, a glamorous Hollywood film star who was also an inventor. She co-developed and co-patented a revolutionary frequency-hopping radio signal that was eventually used by the U.S. Navy. The invention laid the groundwork for today’s wireless communication technology. Benedict graduated from BC in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in history. She is also the author of The Other Einstein, about Mileva Maric, a mathematician and first wife of Albert Einstein. Read more about Benedict and her books in the New York Times Book Review and Newsweek.