We Shall See the Sky Sparkling. Susana Aikin. Kensington. January
2019. 416 pp. ISBN#: 9781496717658.
Lily Throop, despite her father’s vehement disapproval, has
a dream to become a famous actress and leaves home to accomplish that
plan. Although she has no
recommendations or supporting patron, she manages to obtain an apprenticeship
or low-paid position as an actress at London’s Imperial Theatre. She meets an actor/mentor, Wade, who truly
helps to hone her already special skills but unfortunately she becomes a prisoner to
him by way of a contract which she cannot break. That relationship also ruins a budding
romance with a poor stagehand, Chet, who loves Lily but cannot get past Wade’s
hold on her.
Lily does become famous and meets numerous wealthy men and
women when she is not working very hard.
Finally, she meets a Russian count, Sergei, who is also a true
revolutionary supporter. Lily by that
point has heard about the playwright and teacher, Stanislavsky, who is teaching
a new method of acting. During one of
Lily’s crisis scenes with Wade, Lily elopes to Russia with Sergei. The descriptions of her journey and of Russian
cities and the country are stunning and make one want to visit there. After Lily becomes pregnant, her
opportunities to return to England are stymied by the arrest of Sergei. Because of his noble background, he is exiled
to the cold Siberian countryside, one which Lily shares. There they learn to endure and to support
each other. However, their relationship
begins to dim when Sergei refuses to give up his political visionary dreams and
disaster occurs.
Lily will eventually find her true love but not until a lifetime
of work, travel and dedication have welded her to both her career and her
child.
This is a beautiful novel, written with great attention to
setting, history and the arts. Lily is a
dynamic character who although not deeply depicted moves readers profoundly because
of the depth she expresses in her art.
The Russian pre-Revolutionary period is also depicted with stark
accuracy. Lily is the one who sees they
skies sparkling but also becomes the same for her devoted fans.
Nicely crafted historical fiction, Susana Aikin!
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