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sueperlibrarian 's review for:
Starring Adele Astaire
by Eliza Knight
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy of Starring Adele Astaire by Eliza Knight in exchange for a fair review. This will appear on Goodreads.
If you grew up watching classic musical films on Saturday afternoons, you know Fred Astaire. Many people might even know that Fred got his start in vaudeville with his sister Adele, but most probably don't know her story. With a cast of characters from the Royal Family of England, including the Prince of Wales and his brother, Bertie who would be eventually King, Kathleen Kennedy, The Mitford Sisters, and even a baby Queen Elizabeth, we get to take a peek inside Adele's storied life. Through wars, theatrical successes, and personal tragedy, we learn all about the stage, and life in New York and London.
This is a book that anyone with any interest in Fred and Adele would really enjoy. Its a grand historical fiction in its own right, but Adele was described as the 'talented one' in the family and a star who could have shone brighter than her famous brother. The only thing I didn't care for was the inclusion of the second storyline with Violet. There were no authors notes in the galley to explain why the character was there. It just felt like an unnecessary storyline overall. Maybe the book would have been short otherwise. I would have liked to read more of her later years.
I did really enjoy the snippets of newspaper gossip that opened each chapter, really lending the feel of the show business scene to the reader. It was fun.
Overall a solid 4*. Book club-able, clean, enjoyable, fascinating.
If you grew up watching classic musical films on Saturday afternoons, you know Fred Astaire. Many people might even know that Fred got his start in vaudeville with his sister Adele, but most probably don't know her story. With a cast of characters from the Royal Family of England, including the Prince of Wales and his brother, Bertie who would be eventually King, Kathleen Kennedy, The Mitford Sisters, and even a baby Queen Elizabeth, we get to take a peek inside Adele's storied life. Through wars, theatrical successes, and personal tragedy, we learn all about the stage, and life in New York and London.
This is a book that anyone with any interest in Fred and Adele would really enjoy. Its a grand historical fiction in its own right, but Adele was described as the 'talented one' in the family and a star who could have shone brighter than her famous brother. The only thing I didn't care for was the inclusion of the second storyline with Violet. There were no authors notes in the galley to explain why the character was there. It just felt like an unnecessary storyline overall. Maybe the book would have been short otherwise. I would have liked to read more of her later years.
I did really enjoy the snippets of newspaper gossip that opened each chapter, really lending the feel of the show business scene to the reader. It was fun.
Overall a solid 4*. Book club-able, clean, enjoyable, fascinating.