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All the Stars in the Heavens

A Novel

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

New York Times Bestseller • USA Today Bestseller Publishers Weekly 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

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 14, 2015
      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.

    • Library Journal

      May 1, 2015

      This latest from Trigiani draws on the real-life affair of Loretta Young and Clark Gable, who met while filming The Call of the Wild and launched a passionate affair despite his marriage and a telling age difference--she was a green 21, just learning how to make her way through the thickets of the movie business, while he was already an assured star of 34. Meanwhile, a young woman named Alda who has been forced to leave the convent becomes Young's personal assistant and struggles to hold fast to the strong moral code imparted to her by her Italian family. With a 200,000-copy first printing.

      Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Library Journal

      October 1, 2015

      The year is 1933 and the career of movie star Loretta Young is booming nearly as much as the film industry that created her. She is one of the anointed, an A-list leading lady who is regularly cast opposite Hollywood heartthrobs such as Cary Grant and Franchot Tone. Armed with devout Catholicism and a morals clause, the actress fends off serious involvement with these irresistible--and often married--leading men, a resolve that lasts until she meets 34-year-old Clark Gable on the set of The Call of the Wild. The married Gable falls hard for the 21-year-old actress and she with him, igniting a silver screen mythos that survives to this day. VERDICT In this historical novel, best-selling author and filmmaker Trigiani re-creates the golden age of Hollywood with the same rich, sumptuous detail that distinguished The Shoemaker's Wife. Her ability to breathe life into the luminous cast of characters, which includes Spencer Tracy, Myrna Loy, David Niven, and Carole Lombard, will captivate readers, then have them scouring Netflix for film classics of the 1930s. A tinsel-trimmed treat for movie buffs and Trigiani fans alike. [See Prepub Alert, 4/13/15.]--Jeanne Bogino, New Lebanon Lib., NY

      Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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