Hedy Lamarr arrives on her first Hollywood film set in 1938 with one command from Louis B. Mayer: do what I say and you'll be a star. She must conceal her Jewish heritage, suppress her fierce intelligence, and bury the curiosity that's always defined her. And it works . . . she becomes known as "the most beautiful woman in the world," a Catholic paragon of virtue.
But behind the carefully manicured image is a woman desperate for much more than fame.
When Hedy meets aviator Howard Hughes—the first man to recognize her beauty and her brain—it stirs in her a desire for a life driven by purpose, not pretense.
As Hitler's regime spreads across Europe and German technology threatens Allied forces, Hedy draws on her ingenuity and the dangerous knowledge gained from her troubled former marriage to an Austrian arms dealer. She conceives a radical invention: a frequency-hopping system capable of outsmarting Nazi torpedo jamming.
But her greatest battle isn't the science, it's the men who stand in her way.
In a world determined to underestimate her, Hedy must decide whether to keep playing the role written for her . . . or risk everything to change the world.
Based on extraordinary true events, this is a story of identity, courage, and the groundbreaking invention that would one day power WiFi, Bluetooth, and modern communication.
EDEN FRANCIS COMPTON is a pseudonym for the writing team of William Roetzheim and Randy Becker. William started his career in the tech industry, working with the same frequency-hopping technology pioneered by Hedy Lamarr. After launching multiple software companies, he turned his attention to writing, penning an award-winning trilogy of plays about America's great poets. Randy is a writer and Emmy-nominated producer who began his career as an actor starring in film, television, and on Broadway, including the Tony Award–winning play Love! Valour! Compassion! This is the fifth book William and Randy have co-authored as Eden Francis Compton, including Emily, Death Valley, Catch and Kill, and Belle.