For most of my mature reading life, Jane Green has been my favorite writer when I’m in the mood for escapism. From the Patchwork wedding to the fall, there is no Novel by her that I haven”t liked, and when I interviewed her recently on my Podcast about the books she takes to a desert island, it was a real highlight of my career so far. And when, during the confinement, Jane announced that she was writing a new Novel – this time in Morocco – and her first since 2017, I was eagerly awaiting the release of Sister Stardust by Jane Green.
Sister Stardust by Jane Green, a unique interpretation of historical fiction, promised to be somewhat different from her previous books, and the day after the conversation with Jane, I began to do it.
Sister Stardust by Jane Green book review
Very different from her other books because of its exotic and Middle Eastern setting, Sister Stardust is a refreshing interpretation of what Jane Green does best –namely to write a very readable and transportable story, rich in a sense of the environment and a sympathetic cast of characters. Her first Novel, inspired by a true story, in Sister Stardust, Jane Green reinvents the life of Troubled icon Talitha Getty from a forgotten chapter of the 60s.
The story begins when newly widowed Claire finds her box of 1960s memorabilia while rummaging through her attic with her mature daughter, Tally, which takes her back to a magical time that changed her life forever.
What follows is Claire’s account of a guarded existence that started as a young girl in Dorset, but moved to the most glamorous streets of London after her mother expired after an argument with her father’s new wife. In London, the post-war years were in full swing, Claire soon adopting a new identity as she embarks on a less ordinary life where underground Bars, free-flowing medicine are glamorous friends, are quickly becoming the norm.
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And when the Chance to travel to Morocco with her new friends presents itself one evening, she immediately accepts, and Claire – now transformed into Cece – quickly falls under the spell of the charismatic Talitha Getty and her husband Paul.
Living in the sprawling Getty Riad is everything Cece dreamed of when she lived in Dorset, and she soon gets used to bustling Marrakech, where a regular crowd of glamorous visitors and frequent medicine parties with medicine, alchol were the dish of the day. But when a tragic accident happens, Cece leaves the decadent and dreamlike state of colorful Marrakech to resume a semi-normal life in London.
Sister Stardust by Jane Green is a beautifully told story that is nostalgic, evocative and glamorous. She is a vivid, vivid storytelling at her best.
