The Girl in the White Gloves: A Novel of Grace Kelly by Kerri Maher

The Girl in the White Gloves: A Novel of Grace Kelly. Kerri Maher. Penguin Publishing Group. February 2020. pb, 384pp.; ISBN #: 9780451492074.

“And someday you’ll realize that what you’ve got isn’t worth trading. I think I’m starting to see your point, she thought. I just hope it’s not too late.”  Grace Kelly’s dream was to become a Broadway actress. Then she learned about the power of Hollywood.  In the early stages of her career, her parents were not supportive.  Criticism was the norm but Grace’s love of acting overcame the fiercest opposition from family and critics.  Her physical appearance made her the white-gloved Cinderella model in acting.  However, she possessed characteristics that called for grit to survive the rougher aspects of her chosen career.

Maher loosely depicts the love affairs Grace had in her rise to success – Don Richardson, Alfred Hitchcock, Oleg Cassini, Clark Gable and others – momentary flings that failed to satisfy that empty yearning she so frequently knew.  What truly thrilled her was totally immersing her in someone else’s character.  In a world where Grace takes pride in her independence and strength, where can she turn when others expect her to be meek and obedient?  

The narrative plot of Grace’s life story cascades back and forth between her youth and her final years in Monaco as the wife of Prince Rainier.  The reader will frequently question whether all the glitz and glamour are worth the sacrifices that were mandatory in the world of acting with its ever-present high expectations. It is fascinating to see the relationship she formed with directors, agents and producers in the trade.

At the same time one can sense her star-struck haze when she finally is awarded an Academy Award.

Overall, however, this account is a glitzy account of Grace Kelly’s life.  Insecurity and a yearning for approval dominate most of her thoughts, feelings and relationships. Her marriage contract paralleled her demanding Hollywood contracts. Her marriage to Prince Rainier is ultimately disappointing and full of mainly the “image” royalty was bound to present to Monaco and global subjects.  Her rise to the life of a Princess was costly indeed, including a diminishing role as a mother of lovely children whose father vied for the children’s attention and love.

Kerri Maher provides a realistic, stark portrayal of the life and times of Hollywood actors and actresses, Broadway shows, movies and their effect on the public audience who never stop craving more of stars’ “stage life.” 

Fascinating historical fiction recommended as an intriguing and wonder-full read!

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!

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!

Open Wounds by Joseph Lunievicz

Open Wounds. Joseph Lunievicz. WestSide Books. May 2011. 352 pp. ISBN #: 9781934813515.

Cid Wymann's mother died during his birth, and his presence reminds his drunken father of that loss on a daily basis. This fact earns Cid frequent beatings, which his grandmother can do little to stop. But two things are his salvation. He makes two friends, Siggy and Tomik Kopecky, who help him battle the neighborhood bullies. He discovers his grandmother is not attending church services but really is going to the movies, a world Cid comes to revere as he is weekly thrilled by scenes in Captain Blood and other Erroll Flynn movies about swordplay duels. Cid yearns to learn to be a fencer and an actor but does'nt believe those dreams lie in the realm of possiblities. He is to be quite surprised!

Abandoned by his father and losing his grandmother eventually by death, Cid is now a homeless child with no known relatives. Siggy's mom and dad take him in for a while but are forced to find a relative as they have to move themselves during this period of economic decline and loss of jobs in early 20th Century New York. So begins an amazing adventure as Cid lives with Lefty, a distant cousin who was gassed in WWI and lost his left arm and leg as well. His passion was honoring the secret love he held for Cid's mother and acting. Cid now becomes the student of that latter passion, reading all of Shakespeare's plays and imagining the duels therein each play. Lefty teaches Cid to fight and his fencing lessons then begin with Lefty's friend, Nikolai Varvarinski, who is teaching him to fight for fighting's sake and not just for acting. The scenes of this very tough training are exhilarating, and the readers senses a huge battle coming!

Finally, the old bullies reappear surprisingly in an older, more sophisticated venue, and they are out for Cid, this time with death-dealing intentions. The remainder of the novel leads up to a climax in which victory, honor, and integrity fill the pages of this story for all involved, with some head-splitting, hair-raising battles added to spice the mix!

Open Wounds is well-written, plot-driven, with cultural additions about movies, plays, and The Great War, elements that combine to make this a phenomenal piece of historical fiction! Superbly done!