Miss Treadway & the Field of Stars by Miranda Emmerson
Published by 4th Estate
Ebook
Published 12 January 2017
289 pages
NetGalley
Soho, 1965.
In a tiny two-bed flat above a Turkish café on Neal Street lives Anna Treadway, a young dresser at the Galaxy Theatre.
When the American actress Iolanthe Green disappears after an evening's performance at the Galaxy, the newspapers are wild with speculation about her fate.
But as the news grows old and the case grows colder, it seems Anna is the only person left determined to find out the truth.
Her search for the missing actress will take her into an England she did not know existed: an England of jazz clubs and prison cells, backstreet doctors and seaside ghost towns, where her carefully calibrated existence will be upended by violence but also, perhaps, by love.
For in order to uncover Iolanthe's secrets, Anna is going to have to face up to a few of her own...
EXTRACT'Look, out into the darkness, Iolanthe had told her.
WHAT I THOUGHTMiss Treadway & the Field of Stars isn't what I was expecting at all. I thought it would be a straight forward mystery, and there are mystery elements but also has literary elements. I really loved the setting. The author brings London in the 60's vivid life. I enjoyed reading the book for the world-building alone. There are plenty of characters in the book. What I liked was how they were all strong and well-written and none over-shadowed the others. This book has a great cast of characters and this is handled well. I was compelled to read the book from start to finish because I was enjoying it so much. I enjoyed the book much more than I expected and was pleasantly surprised when it exceeded my expectations. Well worth a read.
