I read The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott a few years ago and loved it. When Doubleday asked if we would be interested in A Touch of Stardust, I easily accepted based on how much I enjoyed The Dressmaker. Dressmaker was a fictional story mixed in with historical details of the Titanic. A Touch of Stardust, is again, a fictional story, but with a blend of the historical details surrounding the making of Gone With the Wind, and also the great love affair between Carole Lombard and Clark Gable.
A Touch of Stardust completely swept me away. Another very enjoyable read by Ms. Alcott! I read it in a weekend and loved the behind the scenes scoop about Gone With the Wind, so much so that I ran out to the library to nab a Blu-Ray copy of it. I own the VCR tapes – but there was no chance of tracking down a VCR in the house in order to play them! ;-)
However, at the heart of A Touch of Stardust, is the story of Julie Crawford and her big Hollywood dreams of becoming a screenwriter. A Touch of Stardust is her story to tell and over the course of her growing into her new life, is able to work and later become close friends with Carole Lombard. Like Lombard, Julie is from Fort Wayne, Indiana. As Julie struggles with her dreams in Hollywood, and deals with the persistence of her parents to return home to reality, her feelings of what to do with her love, Andy, Lombard helps keep her grounded and learned about life in Hollywood.
Julie finally makes a big break in her screenwriting dream but still struggles with her relationship with Andy Weinstein. Andy is Jewish and pre-occupied with the state of affairs in pre-WWII Europe. His grandparents have recently been sent to a concentration camp and as America sits and wonders if they will enter the war and what his part will be in it, Andy drifts in and out of Julie’s life.
Another wonderful blend of real-life events with fiction, A Touch of Stardust is an enjoyable read! It was definitely fun to watch Gone with the Wind again framing it with the research Alcott added to her novel. A great reading and movie watching weekend! 4-stars.
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