Published By: Michael Joseph
Pages: 368
Released On: 02/04/2026
October 1956. A glittering array of stars turn out in London for a Royal Film Premiere, where they will be presented to the Queen. Elizabeth II: an elegant young mother and wife, gracious and self-sacrificing who has embraced her patriotic duty despite never expecting to take the throne.
Cameras flash and a limousine pulls up. Out steps a vision in dazzling gold. Marilyn Monroe. A global sensation and money-making machine for Hollywood, with curves that drive men wild and a smile that lets women know she’s in on the joke.
Finally, the two most famous women in the world will come face to face in public for the first time. And the world is watching.
But behind the scenes they are Lilibet and Norma Jeane. Two women from very different backgrounds, who on the surface have little in common. Yet beneath the glamorous costumes and jewels, both women are fighting to keep the men they love, while trying to do their work in a man’s world. And they have spent the summer of 1956 as neighbours, battling secret demons that their adoring public could only guess at.
Until now…
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I looooooooove Julie’s books. I have read the mall and I have followed her career since the start so I was so thrilled to read this.
I do wonder if we would get something different out of this book if Queen Elizabeth II was still with us? I am a big fan of the royal family, especially the late Queen, and there is a photo of her meeting Marilyn when they ere both in their 30s and it was fascinating to see the differences between these two women just because of who they were born to. And also knowing they did both live in Windsor at the same time, it’s lovely to think they might have got together, and just been two young women spending time together, rather than Queen Elizabeth and and Marilyn Monroe.
One thing I loved about Julie’s previous books is her ability to write about women, particularly sisters, and in this book she has got two of history’s most powerful women.
Even if you didn’t know this book was about two people, you’d know just by writing style. She’s given both Elizabeth and Marilyn such distinct voices that you can turn a switch on and off in your head as you’re reading it. Both voices are so crisp and familiar, even if I didn’t know these two women personally, they feel like friends.
As well as the difference between the two women, she has given us the different sides of both Elizabeth and Marilyn. We have the persona, the “Queen” and “Marilyn”, as well as their private sides, the “Lillibet” and the “Norma”, and I found that so fascinating. I also loved that she’s shown the downsides of fame as well. Is the glitz and glamour really worth the loss of your freedom?
I think I preferred the scenes that focussed on the Queen. They’re both equally as fabulous, but I think, having grown up with the Queen, feeling like we knew her, whereas Marilyn was always this enigma, I suppose I felt closer to Elizabeth.
I initially thought it would be a book about Elizabeth and Marilyn together, but whilst they do meet, they are very separate entities, with each alternating chapter given to each woman.
Every now and again it does flit back in time to show Elizabeth’s childhood and young adulthood, and also Marilyn when she was just Norma. They were interesting to read but I found them a bit haphazard, because it wasn’t like a regular flashback, it was just as and when and that threw me slightly.
I read it in a day. I normally read thrillers and the such like in a day because they’re so fast and tense. This is a historical story, not a thriller in the slightest, and yet I still zoomed through it.
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