Who was Marilyn Monroe? In one of her most ambitious works of fiction, Joyce Carol Oates boldly reimagines the inner, poetic, and spiritual life of Norma Jeane Baker—the child, the woman, the celebrity, and idolized blonde the world came to know as Marilyn. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, this intimate epic inspired the 2022 Netflix film starring Ana de Armas and Adrien Brody.