We Shall See the Sky Sparkling by Susana Aikin

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!

The Splendor Before the Dark: A Novel of the Emperor Nero by Margaret George

The Splendor Before the Dark: A Novel of the Emperor Nero. Margaret George. Penguin Publishing Group. Copyright 2018. pb. 592 pp.; ISBN: 9780399584619.

Passion takes precedence over politics, at least initially, in Margaret George’s brilliant follow-up novel to The Confessions of Young Nero.  The story begins with the infamous fire that destroyed almost all of Rome, a fire Nero helps to put out.  He helps dig out victims and console those who lost everything.  However, the rumors then begin that Nero himself set the fires.  He does nothing until he realizes that unless he finds a scapegoat his reign will end.  And so the Christians become the easy targets because their teachings are used as evidence of their guilt. 

Nero after staging the massacre of the Christians for public viewing sets about rebuilding Rome.  He intends to have Rome display glory and stunning, exotic views that will be admired forever!  He attempts to wow his audience with his poetry, his athleticism in the chariot games, his artistic and architectural designs, and all of this (and more) are gorgeously depicted by the author.  The effect on the reader is spellbinding.  Not only is the history of Nero’s world explored but it also envelops the reader into the culture and beauty of the gods and former Roman and Greek emperors.

Then deceit and tragedy enter Nero’s world, beginning with an absolutely huge defection on the part of both Senators and Nero’s own military guard.  The plans for assassination are discovered and the plotters are condemned! But the moral and emotional devastation on Nero is piteous to follow.  His pure intentions to create a beautiful cultured world within Rome are totally misconstrued and that shatters him.  He will never trust again!

The loss of his wife lead him to abandon Rome for a year while he travels to Greece where he will participate in the Olympics of the time.  Finally, Nero’s demise follows the mysterious prophecy that began his adult life.

Words cannot possibly convey the depth of how much is covered in this stunningly beautiful and skilled novel.  Forget what you thought you knew about Nero and enjoy this comprehensive, complex journey into the world of one of the most notable Emperors in Roman history!  Well-written, engaging, well-researched and highly recommended historical fiction!

Beautiful Invention: A Novel of Hedy Lamarr by Margaret Porter

Beautiful Invention: A Novel of Hedy Lamarr. Margaret Porter. Gallica Press. October 2018. 378 pp. ISBN#:  9780990742036.

“I enjoy drawing up plans and designing and making things…They don’t realize that Hedy Lamarr is an invention.”  Yes, Hedy Lamarr was a beautiful actress but also an intelligent woman who invented a war weapon that was almost used to defeat the Germans in WWII. 

Born Hedy Kiesler, an Austrian, Jewish woman, she aspired to be a wonderful actress, but the films she chose to act in first was Ecstasy.  Hedy appears naked and fakes an orgasm which equally gained her universal praise and scorn in the earlier years of the 20^th Century.

She marries a German munitions dealer who soon becomes her jailor.  She winds up escaping from him after realizing she couldn’t ignore her yearning to become a full-time actress.  Hedy signed a contract with Louis Mayer after much haggling but seems frustrated by not being given films she feels are equal to her acting abilities.  Still, her looks and talents catapult her to fame and stardom status!  Her love life is certainly interesting if not very stable. 

Margaret Porter gives a deft depiction of the lives of actors and actresses who more frequently “use” each other for better scripts or positions in the middle of a turbulent time of history with the rise of Adolph Hitler and the beginning of WWII.  Hedy moves through six marriages and has several children, including one adopted son.  She is also an avid gardener and inventor.  She generously contributes her time for the war by selling bonds and attending clubs to sign autographs and dance with soldiers and sailors on leave.  

She researches science facts to create the torpedo that can attack without being detected.  The work behind this creation is no small feat and highly complex.  Hedy herself is a complex character, always searching for deeper meaning and creation, never satisfied.   Her private and public life parallel the historical and political turmoil of Europe and America – dramatic and life-changing!

Enjoy the scenes where Hedy stuns observers with her appearances in elegant gowns and hats, once an actress, always an actress!  Yet also relish the brilliance of her thinking as she seeks solitude to do research and create a soda machine and later a war weapon to be used against Germany.  Most of all, just revel in the enigmatic and intelligent talent of one of the most famous actresses in the Gilded Age of American Theater!  Highly recommended!