Critical Praise

“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.”

—Publishers Weekly

“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, bestselling 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.”

—Library Journal

“Trigiani spins a tale of star-crossed lovers.... A heartwarming tale of women’s lives behind the movies.”

—Kirkus Reviews