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Summary
Summary
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
People's Book of the Week
Annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards Nominee for Fiction
Adriana Trigiani, the New York Times bestselling author of the blockbuster epic The Shoemaker's Wife, returns with her biggest and boldest novel yet, a hypnotic tale based on a true story and filled with her signature elements: family ties, artistry, romance, and adventure. Born in the golden age of Hollywood, All the Stars in the Heavens captures the luster, drama, power, and secrets that could only thrive in the studio system--viewed through the lives of an unforgettable cast of players creating magic on the screen and behind the scenes.
In this spectacular saga as radiant, thrilling, and beguiling as Hollywood itself, Adriana Trigiani takes us back to Tinsel Town's golden age--an era as brutal as it was resplendent--and into the complex and glamorous world of a young actress hungry for fame and success. With meticulous, beautiful detail, Trigiani paints a rich, historical landscape of 1930s Los Angeles, where European and American artisans flocked to pursue the ultimate dream: to tell stories on the silver screen.
The movie business is booming in 1935 when twenty-one-year-old Loretta Young meets thirty-four-year-old Clark Gable on the set of The Call of the Wild. Though he's already married, Gable falls for the stunning and vivacious young actress instantly.
Far from the glittering lights of Hollywood, Sister Alda Ducci has been forced to leave her convent and begin a new journey that leads her to Loretta. Becoming Miss Young's secretary, the innocent and pious young Alda must navigate the wild terrain of Hollywood with fierce determination and a moral code that derives from her Italian roots. Over the course of decades, she and Loretta encounter scandal and adventure, choose love and passion, and forge an enduring bond of love and loyalty that will be put to the test when they eventually face the greatest obstacle of their lives.
Anchored by Trigiani's masterful storytelling that takes you on a worldwide ride of adventure from Hollywood to the shores of southern Italy, this mesmerizing epic is, at its heart, a luminous tale of the most cherished ties that bind. Brimming with larger-than-life characters both real and fictional--including stars Spencer Tracy, Myrna Loy, David Niven, Hattie McDaniel and more--it is it is the unforgettable story of one of cinema's greatest love affairs during the golden age of American movie making.
Praise for All the Stars in the Heavens:
"Trigiani spins a tale of star-crossed lovers... A heartwarming tale of women's lives behind the movies." - Kirkus Reviews
"A thoroughly entertaining tale that brings Hollywood's golden age alive." -People
"A tinsel-trimmed treat for movie buffs and Trigiani fans alike." -Library Journal
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Trigiani's newest fictionalizes Loretta Young's life, both through her eyes and those of an invented personal secretary, whose closeness with the actress ties the narrative threads together. The author's (The Shoemaker's Wife) impeccable research and lush writing style recreates a plausible day-to-day look into the actress's life as a staunch Catholic living and working in Hollywood, beginning in the days of the Hays Code of 1930, which imposed strict moral rules on film content. The focus is on Young's close relationship with her mother and sisters, her affair with Spencer Tracy, her close friendship with David Niven, and most of all, her rumored romance with the married Clark Gable while shooting The Call of the Wild on location, as well as the extraordinary measures she went through to hide the subsequent pregnancy at a time when adultery and a child out of wedlock destroyed careers. Trigiani mines her own Italian roots with the character Alda Ducci, a young woman with her own secrets, who, as Loretta's secretary and friend, navigates the trials of love and fame with her. Eminently readable and richly imagined, Trigiani's latest will thrill her fans and surely collect new ones. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A novice nun suddenly finds herself dismissed from her convent and swept up into the heady world of Hollywood's golden age. Alda Ducci did nothing to merit exile from St. Elizabeth's Infant Hospital, a haven for unwed mothers. Indeed, Alda has worked very hard these past six years: six years of helping unwed mothers give up their babies. Six years since she fled Italy with heartaches and secrets of her own. But her mother superior is convinced that Alda can never let go of her dreams to help these poor women, so she sends her out into the world to become a private secretary to actress Loretta Young. The shift from poverty to luxury jars Alda, as well as the reader, although she endeavors to see the spiritual mission beneath the glamour. Loretta welcomes Alda into her family and her home, which she shares with her three sisters and her mother, Gladys, a talented interior designer and shrewd businesswoman. Within days, Alda has become indispensable to Loretta, and the two women bond to form an indomitable team, although Loretta steals nearly every scene. Dashing men, starry-eyed ingnues, jealous spousesall the players are well-cast as Alda helps Loretta negotiate the studio system, the Hays Code, and thwarted romances. Loretta works hard, not simply studying her lines, but often rewriting them into a code her dyslexia understands. Yet she can't help but fall in love with her every leading man. Drawn to Spencer Tracy, Loretta must lean heavily upon her Catholic faithand friend David Niven's humorto avoid temptation. Clark Gable proves even more difficult to resist. Trigiani (The Supreme Macaroni Company, 2013, etc.), a filmmaker as well as a bestselling novelist, spins a tale of star-crossed lovers, yet the rather flat prose dims the glow of the silver screen. A heartwarming tale of women's lives behind the movies. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
After completing her Valentine trilogy, Trigiani (The Supreme Macaroni Company, 2013) sets her sights on Hollywood's Golden Age, which was fueled by the star system and close monitoring of actors' public and private lives by the dictatorial studios. While love affairs between cast members were often faked as publicity stunts, the one that blossomed between rising leading man Clark Gable and dewy-eyed ingénue Loretta Young was no illusion. The pregnancy that resulted, however, needed to be treated as one, for Gable was married, and Young's career would have been destroyed. With the help of her trusted secretary, Alda, and her close-knit family, Young plotted an elaborate ruse to keep her daughter's paternity a secret, all the while hoping that Gable would get a divorce and make their family whole. Based on the true story of one of Hollywood's most enigmatic love affairs, Trigiani's mesmerizing account of Young's tenacity and grace teems with backstage lore and gossip, making it a must-read for fans of Hollywood's classic movies and the legends of the silver screen.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2015 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Costars Loretta Young and Clark Gable sustained a flirtation on the set of the 1935 film Call of the Wild. Young was almost two decades Gable's junior-and unattached, while Gable was married. Their onscreen chemistry didn't translate to offscreen happiness, and an unplanned pregnancy threatened the stars' careers. With the help of Alda, a former nun, who is now Young's private secretary, Young conceals her pregnancy and her child and ultimately succeeds in the studio system. VERDICT This vivid evocation of Old Hollywood captures the silver screen's golden age. For more about Gable's forbidden love affairs, check out Kate Alcott's A Touch of Stardust. (LJ 10/1/15) © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
