Starring Adele Astaire by Eliza Knight (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

 

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @williammorrowbooks for the review copy of Starring Adele Astaire by Eliza Knight.

Do you have a favorite Fred Astaire movie?  Did you know he had a famous sister named Adele?  I did not and I enjoyed learning about her in this wonderful novel.

In the 1920s, brother and sister duo Fred and Adele Astaire had taken New York by storm.  After starring on Broadway for six years, they take their latest show to London to try out the British public.  While Freddie is a taskmaster, Adele is a “good time Charlie.”  She loves to dance and to socialize, but she also dreams of marriage and children.  Will Adele be able to realize her dreams?

Starring Adele Astaire is a dual narrative novel.  The other story is of the fictional character of Violet Wood.  Violet is a very poor girl in London who dreams of dancing.  After being noticed and befriended by Adele Astaire, she gets her chance to finally dance in a production and to become a star.  The path towards stardom does not run smoothly for Violet and she has her ups and downs in life.

I really liked the juxtaposition of these two stories.  While Adele was up, Violet was down and vice versa.  It really showed the hard work it took to be a successful dancer.  I loved the setting in the 1920s and the appearance of so many famous people that intersected with Adele.  I sure wish I could have seen her dance.  The story continues into the 1940’s. 

I always love a good author’s note and enjoyed learning what was real history and what was fictionalized in this novel.  I loved learning Adele’s story. 

One of my favorite Fred Astaire movies is Royal Wedding as it has the famous dance scene where he dances on the ceiling.  I enjoyed learning in this novel that Adele dated Prince David and was friends with Queen Elizabeth’s parents. 

I enjoyed the fictional gossip news clip that the author wrote to start each chapter.  They were a fun start to each chapter and gave a preview of what was to come.

This novel was published on June 6, 2023.