A Touch of Stardust: A Novel

by Kate Alcott

Synopsis:

When Julie Crawford leaves Fort Wayne, Indiana, for Hollywood, she never imagines she’ll cross paths with Carole Lombard, the dazzling actress from Julie’s provincial Midwestern hometown. The young woman has dreams of becoming a screenwriter, but the only job Julie’s able to find is one in the studio publicity office of the notoriously demanding producer David O. Selznick, who is busy burning through directors, writers, and money as he films Gone with the Wind.

Although tensions run high on the set, Julie finds she can step onto the back lot, take in the smell of smoky gunpowder and the soft rustle of hoop skirts, and feel the magical world of Gone with the Wind come to life. Julie’s access to real-life magic comes when Carole Lombard hires her as an assistant and invites her into the glamorous world Carole shares with Clark Gable, who is about to move into movie history as the dashing Rhett Butler.

Carole Lombard, happily profane and uninhibited, makes no secret of her relationship with Gable, which poses something of a problem for the studio because Gable is technically still married—and the last thing the film needs is more negative publicity. Julie is there to fend off the overly curious reporters, hoping to prevent details about the affair from slipping out. But she can barely keep up with her blond employer, let alone control what comes out of Carole’s mouth, and—as their friendship grows—Julie soon finds she doesn’t want to. Carole, both wise and funny, becomes Julie’s model for breaking free of the past.

In the ever-widening scope of this story, Julie is given a front-row seat to not one but two of the greatest love affairs of all time: the undeniable on-screen chemistry between Scarlett and Rhett, and offscreen, the deepening love between Carole and Clark. Yet beneath the shiny façade, things in Hollywood are never quite what they seem, and Julie must learn to balance her career aspirations and her own budding romance with the outsized personalities and overheated drama on set. Vivid, romantic, and filled with Old Hollywood details, A Touch of Stardust will entrance, surprise, and delight.

My Review:

If you are a fan of the movie Gone with the Wind (which I am) you will sincerely enjoy this book. The book is about the filming of Gone with the Wind and all of the drama that surrounded this highly controversial attempt at film-making. The story focuses on Julie. A mid-western, starry-eyed but confident ingenue on the set of the film. She's not interested in the lights of Hollywood but she wants to be a screen writer. On her first day on the set, she meets Andy - one of David O. Selznik's right-hand men.  Andy is torn between the fact that he is a Jew prior to WWII when Jews around the world were cautious about the environment of impending war. In Hollywood, prominent Jews would hide their ancestry but Andy would not do that. Julie falls in love with Andy but understands that the fact he is Jewish would be difficult for her with her closed-minded, mid-Western family. Throughout the story, Julie becomes Carole Lombard's (Clark Gable's lover and then wife) assistant and friend. From that friendship, we see just how "normal" people like Lombard and Gable in a place like Hollywood where appearances and publicity are everything.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I'm a fan of "old" Hollywood and I absolutely love everything about Gone with the Wind. However, I could not give this book a higher rating because I was never quite clear about whose story this was. Was it about a Jew in Hollywood during hard times or was it about Gone with the Wind? There just seemed to be no to little connection between the two, yet I kept looking for that connection to be more clear.  In the end, I found it to be a simple little story using the grandeur and drama of the making of a blockbuster (Gone with the Wind) as the backdrop to drive the story. It just didn't convince me fully. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it and it was very well written with appropriately dramatic dialog accurate to the time in which the events take place. An enjoyable read, just not a blockbuster work of historical fiction for me. I will definitely read others by Kate Alcott as I did enjoy her writing style.

Thunderstruck

by Erik Larson

Synopsis:

In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men--Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication--whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time.

Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners, scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed, and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, "the kindest of men," nearly commits the perfect crime.

With his superb narrative skills, Erik Larson guides these parallel narratives toward a relentlessly suspenseful meeting on the waters of the North Atlantic. Along the way, he tells of a sad and tragic love affair that was described on the front pages of newspapers around the world, a chief inspector who found himself strangely sympathetic to the killer and his lover, and a driven and compelling inventor who transformed the way we communicate. Thunderstruck presents a vibrant portrait of an era of séances, science, and fog, inhabited by inventors, magicians, and Scotland Yard detectives, all presided over by the amiable and fun-loving Edward VII as the world slid inevitably toward the first great war of the twentieth century. Gripping from the first page, and rich with fascinating detail about the time, the people, and the new inventions that connect and divide us, Thunderstruck is splendid narrative history from a master of the form.

My Review:

Erik Larson can tell a story. Not only does he tell you the story, but he thoroughly educates you about the facts that surround that story. I was not familiar with the story of Hawley and Cora Crippen. Probably, the first truly fully unsolved mystery of its time because quite simply forensics just wasn't advanced enough to prove very much at the turn of the century. Pretty much if the circumstances of the crime scene pointed in the direction of a guilty verdict, then, so it was. Here, a mild-mannered, well-respected but highly unsuspecting man marries a kind of bully of a woman. She controls him (as much as he lets her control him of course) and after many years of "putting up with her" he decides to end it in the most gruesome mutilation murder one can't even imagine. No bones, no identifying sexual organs to be found only the viscera of what was once a human being is buried under the infamous Crippen house in London. However, Cora's friends and lavish reputation is what sets alarms that cause Scotland Yard to find Hawley Crippen and bring him to justice. This is not the whole story, however. There is the fact that had it not been for Marconi's invention and persistence about the benefits of wireless communication, the elaborate scheme not only to catch Crippen and his lover Ethel on the escape but also the ability to advance the ways by which Scotland Yard was able to track his every move it would not have been possible to thwart his otherwise sure-fire escape. Erik Larson tells the story as two separate stories that bring one of the greatest advancements of the century together with one of the most publicized crimes of the time. This was not an easy read. Even the author forewarns the reader at the onset that he provides a lot of detail about the history of the events. And, indeed, that he does. So, if you are not history buff or get lost in the overly detailed recounting of actual events, this book might prove a chore to get through. I found that it did dispense so much detail that at times, I struggled to get past Marconi's story to get to the "juicy" details of the Crippen's story. But, overall, the book was fascinating and the writing brilliant. 

Once Lost

by Ber Carroll

 

Are some things better left unfound?

 

Best friends Louise and Emma grew up next door to each other in a grim inner-city suburb of Dublin. Now Louise, an art conservator, is thousands of miles away in Sydney, restoring a beautiful old painting. She meets Dan, whose family welcome her as one of their own, but she will always feel lost until she finds her mother who walked out when she was just eight years old. 
 
Back in Dublin, Emma is stuck in a job where she is under-appreciated and underpaid, but her biggest worry is her ex-partner, Jamie. Emma has lost so much because of Jamie: her innocence, her reputation, almost her life. Now she is at risk of losing Isla, her young daughter. 
 
So where is Louise's mother? 

Will Emma ever be free of her ex? 

Both women frantically search for answers, but when the truth finally emerges it is more shattering than they had ever expected.

 

Author Bio:

Ber Carroll was born in Blarney, County Cork, and moved to Australia in 1995. Her first novel, Executive Affair, was inspired by her initial impressions of Sydney, and her exciting, dynamic work environment at the time. Ber now lives in Sydney’s northern beaches with her husband and two children.  Incidentally, Ber is short for Bernadette, but please don’t call her Bernadette: this is what her mother calls her when she is in trouble for something. Ber’s novels have been published in five countries, including Ireland. If you would like to know more about Ber and her novels, you can visit her website at www.bercarroll.com, or you can subscribe to her newsletter (Book Chat) with fellow authors Dianne Blacklock and Liane Moriarty (see Ber’s website for a link to the newsletter and to find Ber on Facebook).

My Review: 

Thank you to CLP Blog Tours for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. Ber Carroll's book Once Lost was fantastic. The story examines the struggle one can experience when a traumatic situation leaves questions unanswered and feelings unresolved. It is about the heavy weight of dealing with life when you have not had closure on  a childhood incident you were not emotionally mature enough to process but have carried into adulthood. This is the story of two best friends - Louise and Emma. Louise's mother abandons her when she is 8 years old. Even at such a young age, Louise senses that things aren't right. He mother has erratic mood swings and  is not the loving and affectionate mother Louise desperately needs. She simply ups and leaves one day for no apparent reason abandoning Louise in the care of her step father. Throughout her childhood, Louise longs to have her mother return to her but to no avail. Her neighbor and friend's mother steps in as a kind of surrogate mother to Louise and involves herself in  Louise's upbringing.  Louise and Emma grow up like sisters except that Emma feels the unconditional love and security of having a mother around at all times that puts the daughter above her own needs. The book switches from chapter to chapter between Louise's story and Emma's story. Emma has had her mother all along but she has a bout of rebellion in her teenage years and gets involved with a boy, Jamie, who brings nothing but trouble with drugs and drinking. Emma finds herself pregnant at a very young age and forever tied to the unpredictable and often dangerous consequences of having a baby with someone whose life has no direction. Louise and Emma are now in their mid twenties and are both seeking resolve - Louise wants to find the mother that left her so she can know why and Emma wants to keep Jamie - her daughter Isla's father - as far away from endangering Isla and eliminate his influence on her.  Louise restores art pieces all over the world. As such it enables her to go around the world and further her search for her mother. Both restoring art and her search for her mother become her life's work. A job in Australia takes her to Sydney where she thinks her mother might have fled to. In Australia she meets people that help her and become the support system she has always needed. Back in Ireland, Emma is doing a lot of growing up. She's a good mother, she's in a stable relationship and is doing her best to make up for the mistakes of her youth. But Jamie has a newfound desire to be a father to Isla that threatens Emma's protective hold on her daughter. I don't want to give away what happens to both Louise and Emma as they seek closure on childhood wrongs but their journey is engrossing and poignant. Ber Carroll tells a story that is real and taps into a very human need - the need for love, security and reassurance that we get from bonding, loving relationships early on in life. I not only recommend this novel but give it highest praises.

The Aviator's Wife

by Melanie Benjamin

Synopsis: 

For much of her life, Anne Morrow, the shy daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, has stood in the shadows of those around her, including her millionaire father and vibrant older sister, who often steals the spotlight. Then Anne, a college senior with hidden literary aspirations, travels to Mexico City to spend Christmas with her family. There she meets Colonel Charles Lindbergh, fresh off his celebrated 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic. Enthralled by Charles’s assurance and fame, Anne is certain the celebrated aviator has scarcely noticed her. But she is wrong.

Charles sees in Anne a kindred spirit, a fellow adventurer, and her world will be changed forever. The two marry in a headline-making wedding. Hounded by adoring crowds and hunted by an insatiable press, Charles shields himself and his new bride from prying eyes, leaving Anne to feel her life falling back into the shadows. In the years that follow, despite her own major achievements—she becomes the first licensed female glider pilot in the United States—Anne is viewed merely as the aviator’s wife. The fairy-tale life she once longed for will bring heartbreak and hardships, ultimately pushing her to reconcile her need for love and her desire for independence, and to embrace, at last, life’s infinite possibilities for change and happiness.

Drawing on the rich history of the twentieth century—from the late twenties to the mid-sixties—and featuring cameos from such notable characters as Joseph Kennedy and Amelia Earhart, The Aviator’s Wife is a vividly imagined novel of a complicated marriage—revealing both its dizzying highs and its devastating lows. With stunning power and grace, Melanie Benjamin provides new insight into what made this remarkable relationship endure

My Review:

Reading this book was so gratifying. I really knew nothing about Charles Lindbergh other than the obvious transatlantic flight and the kidnapping of his son. I knew nothing about his amazing wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. She was an incredible woman. One that I want to now know more about. The expression "behind every good man is a good woman" comes to mind. She wasn't just good, she was better than him. Lindbergh was a hero to so many for reasons even he could not accept. According to Melanie Benjamin's account he was opinionated and emotionally reserved, so much so that he was truly hard to like much less love. But, Anne Morrow Lindbergh did love him. Over time, she loved him in different ways but her admiration for her husband and his intellect and accomplishments was impressive. I think it took a very special woman to be so controlled by another person without losing her sanity or giving up on her own future. But, she was always optimistic and seeking to find all the good that came from every bad situation. She did it with style and a natural poise that anyone could attribute to her privileged upbringing but in Benjamin's account it is clear that AML was a woman of great inner strength which translated into how she handled everything she endured and had to deal with in her 45+ year marriage to the world's hero.

This is a magnificent example of historical fiction that will not only educate but give you an insight only someone (Melanie Benjamin) who has done very thorough research can effectively provide.

Rules of Civility

by Amor Towles

Synopsys:

On the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar with her boardinghouse roommate stretching three dollars as far as it will go when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker with royal blue eyes and a tempered smile, happens to sit at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a yearlong journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool toward the upper echelons of New York society and the executive suites of Condé Nast--rarefied environs where she will have little to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve.

Wooed in turn by a shy, principled multi-millionaire and an irrepressible Upper East Side ne'er-do-well, befriended by a single-minded widow who is a ahead of her time,and challenged by an imperious mentor, Katey experiences firsthand the poise secured by wealth and station and the failed aspirations that reside just below the surface. Even as she waits for circumstances to bring Tinker back into her life, she begins to realize how our most promising choices inevitably lay the groundwork for our regrets.

My Review:

Perhaps the best book I have read this year. I feel compelled to compare it Fitzgerald's Gatsby or Capote's Tiffany's but it would be unfair to Mr. Towles to make comparisons as this story of Katie Kontent is so well-written and fascinating that it deserves to stand on its own without comparison. First of all, it is rare to find a book that you just can't find absolutely anything to fault. Although I am not a fan of looking for what could be wrong or done better this book is simply flawless. Every character is equal parts villain (I hate to use such a harsh word) equal parts hero/heroine. In every part of the story, I found myself preferring a character for specific qualities just to change my mind by the next page and find a new reason why another character is simply perfection. They are all flawed, they are all human, they are all significantly reacting to the time (the late 1930s) and the place in which they live (New York City). I sincerely felt that I could experience through the story what it would have been like to be in those circles. The story is of Katie Kontent, a native, first generation, New Yorker of humble Russian ancestry. She is strong, kind, well-intended, optimistic, a little idealistic but overall simple and unfamiliar with the lives of the multi-generational wealth of the New York elite. In her simple and un-pretentious manner, she is thrust into circles of wealth and gentry that a girl of her station could only dream of. She embraces these new circles along with the handsome banker Tinker Gray and her roommate and friend - Eve Ross. She moves through high-society as an observant and participant at times. However, she finds the ironies of the way high-society civility is only unique to them because of circumstance and not as a character flaw to be judged harshly. I don't want to give away any of the story line but will say that Mr. Towles account of a coming-of-age year in Katie Kontent's life is thought-provoking and quite relevant as a statement on the most basic needs and wants of people - in 1930 as in any other time in history. I was not familiar with Washington's Rules of Civility but they are included as part of the book's appendix and I have to admit that I found myself reading and re-reading them... Once more, the relevance in spite of time and place is wonderfully thought-provoking. Mr. Towles uses dialogue so beautifully that you will find yourself repeating the words he so eloquently strings together to express simple ideas. Simply an amazing read that I can't recommend enough.