As most authors will tell you, inspiration can come from anywhere; the novel recommended by Melanie Benjamin for today’s #read99women was inspired by a photograph.

First, a little about Melanie, though if you’re a fan of historical fiction, she really needs no introduction:

Melanie Benjamin is the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling historical novels THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE, about Truman Capote and his society swans, and THE AVIATOR’S WIFE, a novel about Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Her latest novel, MISTRESS OF THE RITZ, is a taut tale of suspense wrapped up in a love story for the ages, the inspiring story of a woman and a man who discover the best in each other amid the turbulence of war.

Her previous historical novels include the national bestseller ALICE I HAVE BEEN, about Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland; THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MRS. TOM THUMB, the story of 32-inch-tall Lavinia Warren Stratton, a star during the Gilded Age; and THE GIRLS IN THE PICTURE, about the friendship and creative partnership between two of Hollywood’s earliest female legends—screenwriter Frances Marion and superstar Mary Pickford. Her novels have been translated in over fifteen languages, featured in national magazines such as Good Housekeeping, People, and Entertainment Weekly, and optioned for film.

Melanie Benjamin; photo by Deborah Feingold

And now for Melanie’s #read99women recommendation: DELAYED RAYS OF A STAR by Amanda Lee Koe. Says Melanie, “This is a terrific historical novel that was inspired by a famous photograph of three iconic women, gathered together before any of them were truly famous: Marlene Dietrich, Anna May Wong and Leni Riefenstahl. The novel imagines this meeting at a party in Berlin in the 1930s, and then goes on to explore their fascinating lives after, and the ways they intersect again and again. It’s just a terrific book about women in the film industry – both in Hollywood and in Nazi Germany – and there are wonderful little character portraits of the less famous people whose lives are touched by these three. It’s bittersweet, moving, and insightful.”

(And see below: don’t these three look like they’ve got stories to tell?)

Click here for more on DELAYED RAYS OF A STAR, and here for more on Melanie and her books.

Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images