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Maybe Marilyn: A Novel
Not yet published
Expected 26 May 26What if, on the night of August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe didn’t die?
What if she got away? Because all she ever dreamed of was to disappear and have a child.
Marilyn Monroe would have turned 100 on June 1, 2026, and the world is preparing for a massive centennial celebration with official festivals and events focusing on her enduring impact on film, fashion, and culture. And then there’s Lois Cahall’s new novel...Maybe Marilyn...
Marilyn Monroe’s housekeeper, Eunice Murray, and her psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, were supposedly the only two people to ever see her dead. Five hours elapsed between the time they found Marilyn’s body and the authorities were contacted. These facts beg the Why was the house rearranged, phone records seized, and evidence destroyed? Was her suicide staged?
Set in 2019, this is a novel about Marilyn Monroe the survivor instead of Marilyn Monroe the victim. When two young reporters get the tip of a lifetime, they go on an elusive search to find her—and learn a thing or two about history in the process. Whether they find Marilyn or not remains to be seen, but what they do find is her granddaughter—alive and well—living up on Cape Cod.
Biographers have long claimed that there is a world of devoted fans who hunger to bring their idol back to life. Their hunger has never waned. Nor have the flawed reports.… #MarilynLives
What if she got away? Because all she ever dreamed of was to disappear and have a child.
Marilyn Monroe would have turned 100 on June 1, 2026, and the world is preparing for a massive centennial celebration with official festivals and events focusing on her enduring impact on film, fashion, and culture. And then there’s Lois Cahall’s new novel...Maybe Marilyn...
Marilyn Monroe’s housekeeper, Eunice Murray, and her psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, were supposedly the only two people to ever see her dead. Five hours elapsed between the time they found Marilyn’s body and the authorities were contacted. These facts beg the Why was the house rearranged, phone records seized, and evidence destroyed? Was her suicide staged?
Set in 2019, this is a novel about Marilyn Monroe the survivor instead of Marilyn Monroe the victim. When two young reporters get the tip of a lifetime, they go on an elusive search to find her—and learn a thing or two about history in the process. Whether they find Marilyn or not remains to be seen, but what they do find is her granddaughter—alive and well—living up on Cape Cod.
Biographers have long claimed that there is a world of devoted fans who hunger to bring their idol back to life. Their hunger has never waned. Nor have the flawed reports.… #MarilynLives
288 pages, Paperback
Expected publication May 26, 2026
1 person is currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
Lois Cahall
4 books14 followersLois Cahall began her career as a newspaper journalist in Boston, Massachusetts and as an associate producer for Nick and Judith Krantz, pursuing true-life stories for CBS TV movies. In 2010 Ms. Cahall pursued her mission of addressing issues in women’s daily lives as a host of ABC News’ Top Priority and Good Morning America NOW. This is also Ms. Cahall’s tenth year as “The Screen Queen” (www.screenqueen.com), a syndicated radio personality covering the movie beat with an eye toward educating the “Bus Stop Mom” about age-appropriate family viewing of the latest Hollywood releases. Her broadcasts over the Saga Communications network reach more than one million listeners every week. Stepping outside of her persona of “The Screen Queen” Ms. Cahall writes about women’s empowerment issues for women’s magazines—including Redbook, Seventeen, Cosmo Girl, SELF, Marie Claire, Reader’s Digest, and, most recently Men’s Journal, and RED in the U.K. Ms. Cahall has completed her first novel, Plan C: Just in Case, edited by Simon Beaufoy, The Full Monty screenwriter who won the Oscar & Golden Globe for his runaway screenplay success with Slumdog Millionaire. The mother of two daughters, Ms. Cahall now divides her life between New York City and London.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Maybe Marilyn is a novel built on a single, irresistible question: what if the most famous woman in the world slipped out of history and into a life of her own choosing? Instead of tragedy, Lois Cahall gives us possibility—an alternate timeline where Marilyn Monroe survives the night of August 5, 1962, and quietly disappears to pursue the two things she was always denied: anonymity and motherhood.
Set in 2019, the story follows two young reporters chasing the tip of a lifetime, a whisper that Marilyn didn’t die but simply walked away. Their investigation becomes a journey through decades of mythmaking, conspiracy, and cultural obsession, and the novel handles this with a lovely blend of curiosity and reverence. The deeper they dig, the more they uncover the gaps, contradictions, and unanswered questions surrounding that night—five missing hours, rearranged rooms, seized phone records, and a death scene that never quite added up. The book doesn’t sensationalise these details; instead, it uses them as a doorway into a gentler, more hopeful imagining.
What makes the novel so compelling is its emotional core. This isn’t a story about a starlet resurrected for spectacle—it’s about a woman reclaiming her life from the world that consumed her. The discovery of her granddaughter on Cape Cod is especially moving, a quiet reminder that legacy isn’t always built on fame; sometimes it’s built on the lives we choose to protect.
The writing has a wistful, almost cinematic quality, blending real history with fiction in a way that feels both daring and tender. It’s a love letter to Marilyn’s enduring impact, but also a challenge to the narratives that have defined her for decades. Instead of victimhood, Cahall offers survival. Instead of tragedy, reinvention.
A thoughtful, imaginative, and surprisingly hopeful novel that invites readers to reconsider everything they think they know about Marilyn Monroe—and to imagine the life she might have lived if she’d finally been allowed to step out of the spotlight.
With thanks to Lois Cahall, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC
Set in 2019, the story follows two young reporters chasing the tip of a lifetime, a whisper that Marilyn didn’t die but simply walked away. Their investigation becomes a journey through decades of mythmaking, conspiracy, and cultural obsession, and the novel handles this with a lovely blend of curiosity and reverence. The deeper they dig, the more they uncover the gaps, contradictions, and unanswered questions surrounding that night—five missing hours, rearranged rooms, seized phone records, and a death scene that never quite added up. The book doesn’t sensationalise these details; instead, it uses them as a doorway into a gentler, more hopeful imagining.
What makes the novel so compelling is its emotional core. This isn’t a story about a starlet resurrected for spectacle—it’s about a woman reclaiming her life from the world that consumed her. The discovery of her granddaughter on Cape Cod is especially moving, a quiet reminder that legacy isn’t always built on fame; sometimes it’s built on the lives we choose to protect.
The writing has a wistful, almost cinematic quality, blending real history with fiction in a way that feels both daring and tender. It’s a love letter to Marilyn’s enduring impact, but also a challenge to the narratives that have defined her for decades. Instead of victimhood, Cahall offers survival. Instead of tragedy, reinvention.
A thoughtful, imaginative, and surprisingly hopeful novel that invites readers to reconsider everything they think they know about Marilyn Monroe—and to imagine the life she might have lived if she’d finally been allowed to step out of the spotlight.
With thanks to Lois Cahall, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Review of ARC copy received from Netgalley.
When I read the synapse of this book I was hooked. As a history fanatic, specifically old Hollywood and musicians, I knew going in that this was a work of fiction but I was very much wondering what if Marilyn actually faked her death. what if she was able to get out. I absolutely loved this book and the concept. The only thing that I didn't like was the sudden change from Marilyn and her life to modern day. I feel like it was sudden. It's persistent throughout the book. I honestly wanted it to be more how she lived her life as a "normal" woman. Her hardships of going from celebrity to normal. Her views of the conspiracies about her death.
When I read the synapse of this book I was hooked. As a history fanatic, specifically old Hollywood and musicians, I knew going in that this was a work of fiction but I was very much wondering what if Marilyn actually faked her death. what if she was able to get out. I absolutely loved this book and the concept. The only thing that I didn't like was the sudden change from Marilyn and her life to modern day. I feel like it was sudden. It's persistent throughout the book. I honestly wanted it to be more how she lived her life as a "normal" woman. Her hardships of going from celebrity to normal. Her views of the conspiracies about her death.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews