When We Were Brilliant

Editor’s Pick: When We Were Brilliant by Lynn Cullen is out now (published January 20, 2026).

See if this book is on Audible

When We Were Brilliant

Buy Now on Amazon

As an Amazon Associate we may earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.

When We Were Brilliant Release Date: January 20, 2026

Published

Editor’s Pick

They were an unlikely pair—a blond bombshell and a photographer determined to be taken seriously—but Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold would make a deal that would change their lives in this dazzling new novel from the national bestselling author of Mrs. Poe and The Woman with the Cure.

In 1952, Norma Jeane Baker follows documentary photographer Eve Arnold into a powder room on the night they first meet. She has a proposition for her. Norma Jeane created Marilyn Monroe to be photographed, and she wants Eve to do it. Eve is better than anyone she’s seen at revealing a person’s inner truth. Together they can help each other. Together, she says, they can make something brilliant.

Skeptical of this cipher of a young woman, Eve demurs. She’s looking for more serious subjects than this ambitious starlet. But she keeps getting drawn back into Marilyn’s orbit, and the women come to recognize something in each other—something fundamental. Nothing will get in the way of what they want, and when Marilyn’s star takes off to teetering heights, neither will ever be the same.

A lavish and transporting novel, When We Were Brilliant captures the halcyon days of an icon and the grit of women determining their own futures as it explores the exceptional and complicated friendship between Marilyn Monroe and Eve Arnold.

Buy Now on Amazon

📚 Ready to read? Secure your copy today and be among the first to enjoy this release.

Reader Anticipation Rating:
[Average Rating: 5]

Genre: Nonfiction

Lynn Cullen

More books from Lynn Cullen

🎧 While You Wait for When We Were Brilliant

Prefer audiobooks?

Check Audible to see if When We Were Brilliant is available to listen to.

Start a free trial and get your first audiobook free.

✔ Listen while commuting or relaxing
✔ Your first audiobook is free with the trial
✔ Cancel anytime

Start Audible Free Trial

Recommended Book Release Guides

Similar Books Liked By Our Readers