Melanie Benjamin Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Super Mom Books

Publication Order of Blaze Collection Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Melanie Benjamin is a New York Times Bestseller historical and literary fiction author born in Indianapolis. She was an avid reader from a young age and was also a winner of several consecutive years of the summer reading program at her local library.

Even though writing was always a calling, Melanie started writing for local magazines and Newspapers before writing her first fiction novel. While studying at Indiana University, she performed in different community theater productions before meeting her husband.

Melanie combined her love for History and biography and started writing historical fiction focusing on the stories behind the stories.

Her novels The Swans of the Fifth Avenue and The Aviator’s Wife were USA Today, New York Times, and IndieBound best sellers. Her debut novel, Alice I Have Been, became a national bestseller, followed by The Autobiography of Mrs. Thumb.

When not writing, you can find Melanie reading, taking walks, gardening, and rooting for the cubs.

Aviator’s Wife
Ann Morrow is the well-educated daughter of the US ambassador in Mexico who was raised well, but her life changed when she caught the attention of aviator Lindbergh, and her order and quiet came to an end.
She is a college student visiting her parents and sibling in Mexico during Christmas. Her mother is so happy to host colonel Charles Lindbergh hoping he will notice her oldest daughter’s beauty and probably court her. However, to their surprise, the shy Anne catches his eye instead.

When he flew across the ocean, Anne heard his name for the first time about a year ago. He is celebrated for his 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Enthralled by Charles’s assurance and popularity, Anne is sure that the aviator can hardly notice her, but she is wrong.

Anne has always felt different about life and wasn’t as beautiful and popular as her sisters. She was insecure about herself and loved to write a lot. She was the daughter her parents could always count on, and the woman Charles Lindbergh felt he could spend his life with.

Anne starts going to the sky with him as he takes her flying. The two break the silence to share their dreams as he looks forward to improving aviation’s future; Anne, on the other hand, wants to write a book.

As they get acquainted with each other better, Charles goes on his knee and proposes to her. Their marriage is full of new paths, structures, and navigating. Anne likes the excitement that comes with her different life, considering that she has always lived an ordinary and boring life.

Charles sees a kindred spirit in Anne, a fellow adventurer, and soon the two marry in a huge wedding that made it to the news headlines. A few years later, Anne became the US’s first licensed female glider pilot. However, despite all the big achievements, she is still seen as the aviator’s wife.

The dream life that she once wished for is about to bring hardship, and heartbreak which pushes her to reconcile her need for love, desire for independence, and life’s infinite possibilities for happiness and change.

Now Anne is a mother of six children feeling imprisoned by her marriage to Charles as he didn’t show any sign of love or compassion towards the kids. Anne hides her husband’s secrets and often backs him politically even when she doesn’t believe him as he did.

Anne believes that the perfect theme for her 45-year marriage to a difficult man is to stand by her husband and show the world that you love and adore them. She knew it was her job to show the world the strong façade of a couple united in everything. Charles formulated some of these things and then imposed them on Ann as one of her wifely duties.

Apart from revealing these facets of Anne Lindbergh, Melanie tries to create a world where people feel thrown in taking each step alongside the aviator’s wife. The author creates tension so that, as a reader, you can know what might happen yet write in such a manner that you feel their hopes and later misery in each word.

Anne suffered for a long time, believing she was weak and had to fight hard to enjoy her role as a hands-on parent. She always rose on to the occasion whenever Charles abandoned her. Her life ran on Charles’s rules, and he was difficult with the children.

He was emotionally drawn away from his family while still having issues with the government. Charles also wanted to live in Germany, and Anne was strong enough to put up with all this. She appeared not to want to do everything he asked but still did even when she knew she should not.

Anne suffered so much for him, but he never cared, even for a second. Charles wanted things to be run his way even in his absence. Anne always put him before everything else, including herself.
Aviator’s wife is a story of triumph and pain astounding you.

The Swans of Fifth Avenue

The book is a story of Truman Capote and his group of ‘swans’ whom he surrounded himself with as he rose to fame in 1950s New York. It majorly focuses on his friendship with CBS founder Bill Paley’s wife Babe.

The author narrates how Truman ascended to high society with other rooms, voices, and Breakfast At Tiffany‘s through his fall from grace. It’s a gossipy look inside Truman Capote and his swans, Manhattan’s wealthy and powerful socialites between the 50s and 60s.

The novel takes a fascinating look into the glamour and the high society of a bygone period showing that not all that glitters is gold as there are many unhappy stories behind the public façade. The untold stories underneath the public make the story more intriguing.

The author tells tales about Truman himself and his swans, the society of women who were his best friends, into the enchanting foray of their little dirty secrets. The ladies tell Truman stories they don’t tell each other or their husbands because they trust him.

However, Truman changes after the success of In Cold Blood and Party of the Century. He began drinking vodka and other drugs, focusing more on his image than writing. He finally wrote about something that he knew best, his swans ‘friendship is damned’ since they had amazing stories.

Truman Capote had a hard childhood and had an unquenchable desire to be loved and accepted. Through his friendship with Babe Paley, He felt accepted into her influential circle. He kept their secrets and all their juicy information about their lives confidential.

However, the literary scandal led to his fall from grace. Beyond the perfect world and the scandalous stories of his society is a story about friendship, an unconventional love affair between Truman Capote and Babe Paley.

Each character shares their side of story of that union set in the middle of Glitz and glamour while offering a caution of trusting someone with other person’s secrets who might not be worthy. Why would Truman, who appeared to have a genuine love for Babe Paley, change and betray her publicly?