A TOUCH OF
STARDUST
A Novel
Kate Alcott
New York Times bestselling author of The Dressmaker and The Daring
Ladies of Lowell
From Kate Alcott, the New York Times bestselling author of The Dressmaker, comes A TOUCH OF STARDUST (Doubleday; 2/17/14), a blockbuster novel that takes you behind the scenes of the filming of Gone With the Wind, while turning the spotlight on the passionate romance between its dashing leading man, Clark Gable, and the blithe, free-spirited actress Carole Lombarc.
When
Julie Crawford leaves Fort Wayne, Indiana, for Hollywood, she never imagines
she'll cross paths with Carole Lombard, the dazzling actress from Julie's provincial
Midwestern hometown.
Although
the young woman has dreams of becoming a screenwriter, the only job Julie is
able to find is one in the studio publicity office of the notoriously demanding
producer David O. Selznick, who is busy burning through directors, writers and
money as he films Gone With the Wind.
Although tensions run high on the set, Julie finds she can step onto the back lot, take in the smell of smoky gunpowder and the soft rustle of hoop skirts, and fee the magical world of Gone With the Wind come to life. Julie's access to real-life magic comes when Carole Lombard hires her as an assistant and invites her into the glamorous world Carole shares with Clark Gable, who is about to make movie history as the dashing Rhett Butler.
Carole Lombard, happily profane and uninhibited, makes no secret of her relationship with Gable, which poses something of a problem for the studio because Gable is technically still married - and the last thing the film needs is more negative publicity. Julie is there to fend off the overly curious reporters, hoping to prevent details about the affair from slipping out. But she can barely keep up with her blonde employer, let alone control what comes out of Carole's mouth, and - as their friendship grows - Julie soon finds she doesn't want to. Carole, both wise and funny, becomes Julie's model for breaking free of the past.
Kate Alcott married into the Mankiewicz family (of Citizen Kane, Cleopatra, & All About Eve fame), and her father-in-law, Herman Mankiewicz, won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay with Orson Welles for Citizen Kane. Alcott artfully weaves delicious, never-before-told stories from the period into A TOUCH OF STARDUST. Vivid, romantic, and filled with Old Hollywood details, A TOUCH OF STARDUST will entrance, surprise and delight.