90 Books Like The Million Dollar Mermaid

I loved this book because it is a story that reclaims the tattered image of a bold and brave woman, Idina Sackville, as re-told by her great-granddaughter, Frances Osborne.

The Bolter tells a complete tale of a determined woman unwilling to be tamed by high-society rules but rather singularly interested in pursuing her own interests in love, passion, and life. Taylor Swift fans believe that her song, “The Bolter” from her album, The Tortured Poets Department, is directly inspired by Idina Sackville.

I read until the end because I was dying to know what became of Idina and how her legacy grew from socialite-gone-wrong to the understudied drive of a determined woman.

When I was working on the fundraising campaign to raise money for the statue of Virginia Woolf for Richmond, I was constantly being quoted the line, “I’d rather die than live in Richmond.” This line, uttered by Nicole Kidman as Woolf in The Hours, was completely made up by the screenwriter. 

Woolf’s decade (1914–1924) in Richmond was actually one of her most prolific. She launched the Hogarth Press, wrote major works, and hosted literary gatherings whilst also navigating the upheaval of World War I. This book, drawing from her letters and diaries, paints a richer picture of her time in Richmond. I think this bio-pic would challenge the Bloomsbury-dominated narrative and put pay to that rogue quote.

I’ve always been fascinated by actors who become trapped by their most famous roles, and Bela Lugosi is a prime example. Dracula (1931) made him a legend but also led to typecasting, addiction, and decline, which was heartbreakingly portrayed by Martin Landau in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood.

Koren Shadmi’s graphic novel traces his life from his early days in Hungary, where he was a theatre star and political activist, to his tragic downfall in Hollywood. A bio-pic could give us the full picture: the ambition, the talent, and the slow, painful descent of a man haunted by his own creation, and its illustrations would provide a handy reference for the director’s vision.

In the summer of 1816, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, her husband-to-be Percy Bysshe Shelley, their close friend Lord Byron, Mary’s stepsister Claire Clairmont, and Byron’s physician John William Polidori gathered at the Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva, Switzerland, where they challenged each other to craft ghost stories.

Mary’s contribution—a tale exploring the possibility of reanimating a corpse—became the seed of Frankenstein. This summer and the creation of Frankenstein have been vividly portrayed in bio-pics such as Gothic (1984, Ken Russell), Haunted Summer (1988, Ivan Passer), and Rowing with the Wind (1988, Gonzalo Suárez).

Less explored is her time in Bath (Sept 1816 - May 1817), where she worked on the novel. This book (2024) delves into these months, showing how Mary navigated grief, personal loss, and her writing routine. For those who love books, it also highlights the texts she and Percy read during this period, which influenced her work.… show more.

First of all, Nia Vardalos is just hilarious. She could write an Ikea assembly brochure and it would probably be side-splitting. But in the book, she tells about being a rising star (a great story on its own) who had it all – except a baby. After a grueling battle with infertility, she eventually came around to the idea of adoption, and started to learn more about the fost-adopt process of taking an older child who is unlikely to reunite with their original family. With great heart, she tells the roller-coaster story of bringing a 3-year-old with attachment challenges into her life—and the inevitable universality of motherhood. “Nothing prepared me for the life I would feel for my child. Nothing prepared me for how quickly it happened for me. And here’s what I just figure out now: no one is ever prepared. In a way, we’re all instant moms.” She’s… show more.

This book includes so many of my favorite things: an inn on the coast of Italy, a young innkeeper with outsized dreams, movie stars, an almost-romance, and a chance for rekindled love.

I clung to every page as the story moved back and forth from the 1960s to the present day, from the set of Cleopatra in Rome to Hollywood backlots. This book is like a vacation full of interesting people you want to know better, the kind of vacation you never want to end.

I read this novel just as I was starting to write in earnest, and before I fully understood how hard it is to pull off a feat of complex storytelling as elegantly as Walter does in this novel. It’s a marvel.

If this beautifully illustrated collection of Hollywood tragedies were only kink, only lurid scandal like so many cheap TV potshots, it wouldn’t be the iconic masterpiece it has become. Kenneth Anger’s take on the faded and fallen Hollywood differs because he loves the place and its people with all his heart.

A child starling and renegade director in his own right (Scorpio Rising, Kustom Kar Kommandoes), he oozes child-like wonder and horror on every page. As he puts it in the book’s equally stark sequel, Hollywood Babylon II, the movies “promise immortality, but don’t really deliver.”   

This book is a tour-de-force—a beautifully written story about Marian Graves, an Amelia Earhart-type adventurer during the prohibition era, and Hadley Baxter, the actress set to play her in a movie more than half a century later.

I really enjoyed how the two stories are in conversation with each other; both women determined to chart their own courses in very different eras and what they learn about themselves in the process. I was also struck by the intense obligation the actress feels to get this character right and the personal toll it takes as she discovers how similar their emotional lives may have been.

This book provided a true escape just when I needed it most, and I could have kept reading long after I turned the final page.

This is one of my comfort reads. It’s been out a while, so it may be a little dated in terms of technology, but the heat is still there. One of the things I love most about this book is that it blows the perception that we should have everything figured out by the time we reach a certain age or level of success. Isabel thought she had a fool-proof guide to living a successful life free of messes. Well, you know that had to blow up in her face. But I also like Lorenzo Gage’s story as much. As one of the world’s most bankable movie stars, he should be riding high, but he finds himself inexplicably discontented with his career and life choices. This book reminds me it’s okay if I don’t have a handle on every little thing.

I finished this novel quickly as the story and writing are engaging.

I knew something of Hedy Lamarr’s wartime efforts and intelligence going in, but this story shed much more light on the woman and highlighted the difficulties she faced.

I recommend it for readers who enjoy historical fiction, WW2 stories, and novels about strong women.