Melanie Benjamin’s historic fiction successfully combines romance with thriller plots and famous real life heroines, so its perhaps not surprising her books regularly grace the New York Times and USA Today best seller lists.br /

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Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Melanie talks about her latest book Mistress of the Ritz, a World War II story based in the landmark Paris hotel taken over by the Nazis. It’s a love story and a suspense thriller all in one.br /

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Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:br /

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Melanie's vital second start as a novelistOn being brutally honest about your workThe change from modern to historical fictionHollywood's golden years for womenHer podcast with fellow authorThe little know Brit she binge readsbr /

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Where to find Melanie Benjamin: br /

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Website:  https://melaniebenjamin.com/ br /

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Facebook:  Melaniebenjamin.author br /

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 Twitter:  @MelanieBen Goodreads: Melanie Benjaminbr /

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follows is a near as transcript of our conversation, not word forbr /

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.br /

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Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Melanie. Hello there Melanie, and welcome to the show.br /

It's great to have you with us. br /

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Melanie Benjamin: Well, thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks forbr /

thinking of me, Jenny. br /

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Bestselling historical fiction author Melanie Benjaminbr /

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Jenny Wheeler: Melanie, you're a New York Times and USA Today best sellingbr /

historical fiction author. You've got foreign rights sold in a dozen countries.br /

You sound as if you're really at the top of your game, but was there a Oncebr /

Upon a Time moment when you just knew you had to write fiction? How did it allbr /

start? br /

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Never like 'in the movies'br /

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Melanie Benjamin: Yes. It's never quite like it is in a book or a movie.  Just one moment. No, it's never quite likebr /

that.  You know, I came to this fairlybr /

late in my life. I didn't even consider being a writer until I was nearing 40.br /

It's a long time ago.  My first love wasbr /

theater and I really wanted to pursue an acting career, which was not supportedbr /

by my family. So that led to a lot of anxiety about dropping out of college andbr /

running out, wanting to go off and do my theater and pursue my acting.br /

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And it was just kind of a muddle. And thenbr /

I get married. And then I had children very young and I did a stay at home mombr /

thing and the - what we call the PTA up here - the Parent Teacher Associationbr /

president thing.  But I wasn't verybr /

happy. However, I was always a reader, although I had never considered writingbr /

as a career.br /

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It was just something that came verybr /

naturally to me and helped me through all my years in college and highbr /

school.  Writing was always an easy thingbr /

for me. A dear friend of mine said. -  Ibr /

was coming up on my 40th birthday - and she said,” you know, I always thoughtbr /

you'd be a writer.” And to this day, she doesn't know why she said that.br /

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A light bulb momentbr /

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But when she did say it was like a littlebr /

light bulb went off over my head. Certainly I was a very articulate, highlybr /

verbal person. I lived in my head a lot. I pretended a lot. I was a hugebr /

reader. And so I set out to start to write, and I wrote a couple of littlebr /

essays that got me a column in a parenting magazine.br /

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And then I wrote a short story that went tobr /

contest. That was just a dangerous enough amount of success to keep me...