Leslie Johansen Nack '92

"The Blue Butterfly," a novel by award-winning author Leslie Johansen Nack '92, will be published May 3 by She Writes Press.

According to the book's press release, the historical-fiction work "explores the true-life story of Marion Davies and her relationship with William Randolph Hearst, including a whirlwind courtship, a secret child, a movie career spanning two decades, harrowing family excesses, a secret love affair with Charlie Chaplin... and how the movie 'Citizen Kane' stole her legacy and turned everyone against her.

"Fans of 'The Only Woman in the Room' by Marie Benedict and 'Loving Frank' by Nancy Horan will love the often-untold story of 'The Blue Butterfly.'"

Kirkus Reviews called the novel "a detailed, moving portrait of a complex woman in a complex life."

Ashley E. Sweeney, author of the award-winning "Answer Creek," said the book is "dripping with diamonds and gilded with grandeur, [taking] readers from the bowels of the New York stage to the glittering life of Hollywood and its stars. Haunting and heartbreaking, 'The Blue Butterfly' elicits the gut-punch that what we do for love colors our lives forever.'"

Nack’s debut, "Fourteen, A Daughter's Memoir of Adventure, Sailing, and Survival," received five indie awards, including the 2016 Finalist in Memoir at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Her website notes that "Before she started writing, she raised two children, ran a mechanical engineering business with her husband, took care of her aging mother, and dreamed of retirement when she could write full-time. She did everything late in life, including getting her degree in English Literature from UCLA at age 31, only two years after she married for the second time."