Monique Grant is a junior reporter at a New York magazine, struggling with a stalled career and a collapsing marriage, when she is unexpectedly summoned by Evelyn Hugo. Evelyn, now in her late seventies, was one of the biggest film stars of Hollywood's golden age, and she has decided to tell her full life story, but only to Monique, for reasons she will not explain.
In Evelyn's Manhattan apartment, the story unfolds husband by husband, from her escape from a poor Cuban-American childhood in Hell's Kitchen to studio-era stardom in the 1950s and beyond. She reveals the bargains she made with studios, gossip columns and the men she married, and the hidden love of her life, whose identity she had to protect for decades.
Reid structures the novel around the seven marriages, one section for each, with interludes of magazine clippings and tabloid stories. It explores fame, ambition, bisexuality and the cost of living in secret. Initially a modest seller, it later became a huge hit through online reading communities, especially BookTok, and remains a book-club favourite.
Book details
| Author | Taylor Jenkins Reid |
|---|---|
| First published | 2017 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 389 |
| Setting | Hollywood from the 1950s to the 1980s, and present-day New York |
Themes
- Fame
- Ambition
- Hidden love
- Sexuality
- Sacrifice
Who should read it
Readers who want a glamorous, emotional story about Old Hollywood and the secrets behind a public image.