Last week I finished reading Antonia White's Frost in May, which I greatly admire--it's the sort of book that is somewhat painful to read considering what the young protagonist goes through, but it's also a story that can be much appreciated in the telling and insight. I have plans to write about it, but it's scheduled a little further down the line (so watch for it later). I plan on reading the quartet of books by White dealing with Nanda (her name changes in the other three books) and was looking ahead and noted she goes into theater-work at some point in her youthful career. I was thinking to myself how many young women made that choice in literature and take to the stage--not just in literature but in real life. I started listing books in my mind and thought what a great Thursday Thirteen it would make.
So here is a baker's dozen of books, fiction and nonfiction, about young women who take to stage and screen (I've broadened the topic just a bit). Some I've read, others I have on my reading pile and a few look intriguing so I might have to check them out a bit more closely. Where I've read and written about the books, the link will take you back to my original post.
Lucky Break by Esther Freud - "This dazzling new novel from Esther Freud uncovers a world of ruthless ambition, uncertain alliances, and the many-sided holy grail of Success". Litlove just wrote about this, and as Esther Freud is yet another 'been meaning to read' authors whose work I seem to always be collecting, I have duly added this to my wishlist.
Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk - Am reading this one now! "A starry-eyed young beauty, Marjorie Morgenstern is nineteen years old when she leaves New York to accept the job of her dreams-working in a summer-stock company for Noel Airman, its talented and intensely charismatic director. Released from the social constraints of her traditional Jewish family, and thrown into the glorious, colorful world of theater, Marjorie finds herself entangled in a powerful affair with the man destined to become the greatest-and the most destructive-love of her life."
Marking Time and Slipstream by Elizabeth Jane Howard - I love Elizabeth Jane Howard and was saddened to hear that she very recently passed away. I have started rereading the Cazalet Chronicles as she had just recently published the fifth book following the drama of the Cazalet family. One of the daughters, Louise, has dreams of working in the theater. Howard also worked in the theater and she writes about her experiences in Slipstream, which I greatly enjoyed reading!
Mariana by Monica Dickens - This is a favorite of mine and I just pulled my copy off the shelf in anticipation of rereading. I won't manage it this month, and maybe not even next month either but it is a story I will be revisiting this year.
Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures by Emma Straub - My lone Hollywood story. Another book I enjoyed reading--Laura Lamont's life story is told from her youth in Wisconsin, early marriage through to her stardom in Hollyood on the Silver Screen.
The Sugar House by Antonia White - This is the third book in the quartet and Clara Batchelor is an actress touring with a theater company.
An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge - I have yet to read Bainbridge despite having it in my mind that I will like her, and thus have been collecting all her books (I'm not sure how many I own but I have a huge stack of them). "Told with black humour, this is the story of a group of no-hope rep actors in Liverpool in the mid 50s, doing Peter Pan."
The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton - I think this was longlisted for the Orange Prize a few years back, wasn't it? "All the world's a stage--and nowhere is that more true than at an all-girls high school, particularly one where a scandal has just erupted." I want to read her newest, but I can see myself reading this one first.
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters - This is my only (until her new book comes out) unread book by Waters. I like keeping it in reserve for just the right moment, but I suspect it is nearing since there will be another to add to my reading pile later this year. The heroine of this story is enamored by the stage and becomes a music-hall star.
Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh - This is the second Inspector Alleyn mystery, where the victim is a stage actor. Marsh herself was closely related to the theater. I plan on reading this one this year (another author I collect). I read the first Alleyn mystery years ago, so must get back to the series.
An Expert in Murder: A Josephine Tey Mystery by Nicola Upson - "March 1934. Revered mystery writer Josephine Tey is traveling from Scotland to London for the final week of her play Richard of Bordeaux, the surprise hit of the season, with pacifist themes that resonate in a world still haunted by war." I read and enjoyed this when it first came out in paperback--am looking forward to continuing on with the series.
Ghost Light by Joseph O'Connor - The story is based on a love affair between Irish playwright John Millington Synge and actress Molly Allgood who is some fifteen years his junior. I thought the prose exquisite when I read this back in 2011.
My Wife's Affair by Nancy Woodruff - "Peter accepted his fate as a failed novelist turned semi-successful businessman, but even after three children, his wife Georgie always held onto the actress inside her. When Peter gets a job in London, the move sets Georgie down a seductive path to the life she always wanted. Landing a one-woman show, she is drawn into the romance of the stage and begins to feel a kinship with her character-Dora Jordan, a famous eighteenth-century actress who had thirteen illegitimate children, ten fathered by the future King of England-and develops an irresistible attraction to the show's playwright, beginning an affair that will irrevocably change her life, her marriage, and her world."
and one extra:
Underfoot in Show Business by Helene Hanff - I love Helene Hanff. Before her success with 84, Charing Cross Road she wrote plays for the New York stage.
I'm sure I've only touched the very tip of the iceberg. If you have any good stage/or screen reads, do share!