In order to escape her half breed status in India Estelle Thompson took a big chance and accepted a ticket to travel to England with a man she thought loved her. He was also going to introduce her to a movie producer, which was her life long dream-to become an actress. When she got to the boat he was no where to be found--nor was he in England when she got there-alone and friendless.
This is partly historical and partly the imagination of the author I believe. Estelle lucked out and became Merle Oberon-an accomplished actress. But she had to keep her real identity and the identity of her mother a secret which disturbed her no end.
She became an accomplished and well known actress. Just when she thought all her dreams were going to come true--a deep dark secret was told to her first by a woman she thought was her sister-and it was confirmed by her mother as she lay dying.
With the help of her then husband she was able to reconcile the real truth about her life which makes for a somewhat happy ending.
This novel will have you grabbing for the tissues--Estelle/Merle did not have an easy life!
About the Book: (from Amazon)
From the author of The Color of Secrets and The Woman on the Orient Express comes a poignant novel inspired by the Hollywood legend—and the secrets of—actress Merle Oberon, famous for playing Cathy to Laurence Olivier’s Heathcliff in the film Wuthering Heights.
For nineteen-year-old Estelle Thompson, going to the cinema is more than a way to pass the time…it’s a way out. In 1931 in Calcutta, Anglo-Indian girls like Estelle are considered half-breeds, shunned by both English and Indian society. Her only escape is through the silver screen, where she can forget the world around her.
When Estelle catches the eye of a dashing American heir with connections to a major motion-picture studio, he also captures her heart. Soon, Estelle has a one-way ticket to London and a recommendation for a screen test.
To get to the top, she must keep her Indian heritage concealed—and so begins her new identity as movie goddess Merle Oberon. But just as her dreams are poised to come true, she discovers that her own family is keeping a much more shocking secret from her—one that changes everything she’s believed about her past.
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About the Author: (from Amazon)
Raised in Wolverhampton, UK, Lindsay Jayne Ashford became the first woman to graduate from Queens' College, Cambridge in its 550 year history. She gained a degree in Criminology and was employed as a reporter for the BBC before becoming a freelance journalist, writing for a number of national magazines and newspapers.
Lindsay began her career as a novelist with a contemporary crime series featuring forensic psychologist Megan Rhys. She moved into the historical genre with 'The Mysterious Death of Miss Jane Austen', and her most recent books, 'The Color of Secrets', 'The Woman on the Orient Express' and 'Whisper of the Moon Moth', blend real events with fiction and are set in the first half of the twentieth century.
She has four children and divides her time between a house overlooking the sea on the west coast of Wales and a small farmhouse in Spain's Sierra de Los Filabres. When she is not writing she enjoys kayaking, body-boarding and walking her dogs, Milly and Pablo.
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1 comments :
This sounds great. I did know a little about Merle Oberon because I'm interested in Old Hollywood, and her life was fascinating.
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