Irene Van Beck has had enough of working for a traveling burlesque show. She has a plan, and together with fellow dancer Millie Martin, she is ready to start a new life. Tagging along with them is comedian Henry Weiss, and soon they are off to Hollywood on the next train. However, there it is one thing to dream about finding fame in Hollywood; it's a different thing in real life. Just finding a paying job is hard enough, but Irene, Millie, and Henry won't give up, and they have each other to rely on.
As a big fan of old Hollywood movies, this was a book I looked forward to reading. CITY OF FLICKERING LIGHT is a story about three friends finding, or trying to find, fame in Hollywood. It's a hard life, and the risks are there, from being taken advantage of or numbing your pain with drugs. Not to mention the dreary days of just waiting for the big break. Or often, just a job to pay the bills and put food on the table. I found the book to be a bit too light for my taste, sure there are darker moments, but I never really felt that they got to me. I think one of the problems I had with the book was Millie who was extremely naive. She never really annoyed me, but I never really warmed up to her either. Often it felt like Irene and Henry were there just to protect her from danger all the time. Irene and Henry were the ones that I felt were the most interesting to read about. Their plight of finding a bright future was what really engaged me. I'm also glad that Juliette Fay didn't turn this into a triangle drama. The ending was a bit too abrupt. It left me wondering what would happen next. Which of course is not a bad thing since it showed that I was engaged in the story and wanted more.
I would say that the CITY OF FLICKERING LIGHT is perfect if you like reading about old Hollywood and if you are looking for a beach read. I found the story easy-going, and I will definitely read more from the author.
Juliette Fay—“one of the best authors of women’s fiction”
(Library Journal)—transports us back to the Golden
Age of Hollywood and the raucous Roaring Twenties, as three
friends struggle to earn their places among the stars of the
silent screen—perfect for fans of La La Land and
Rules of Civility.
It’s July 1921, “flickers” are all the rage, and Irene Van
Beck has just declared her own independence by jumping off a
moving train to escape her fate in a traveling burlesque
show. When her friends, fellow dancer Millie Martin and
comedian Henry Weiss, leap after her, the trio finds their
way to the bright lights of Hollywood with hopes of making
it big in the burgeoning silent film industry.
At first glance, Hollywood in the 1920s is like no other
place on earth—iridescent, scandalous, and utterly
exhilarating—and the three friends yearn for a life they
could only have dreamed of before. But despite the glamour
and seduction of Tinseltown, success doesn’t come easy, and
nothing can prepare Irene, Millie, and Henry for the
poverty, temptation, and heartbreak that lie ahead. With
their ambitions challenged by both the men above them and
the prejudice surrounding them, their friendship is the only
constant through desperate times, as each struggles to find
their true calling in an uncertain world. What begins as a
quest for fame and fortune soon becomes a collective search
for love, acceptance, and fulfillment as they navigate the
backlots and stage sets where the illusions of the silver
screen are brought to life.
With her “trademark wit and grace” (Randy Susan Meyers,
author of The Murderer’s Daughters), Juliette Fay
crafts another radiant and fascinating historical novel as
thrilling as the bygone era of Hollywood itself.
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