Written by Miranda Emmerson
How do you find a missing actress in a city where everyone’s playing a role?
Soho. 1965, When an American actress disappears from the Galaxy Theatre, her young dresser, Anna Treadway is determined to find out what happened to her.
Anna’s search will lead her through a London she barely knew existed: a city of reggae clubs and back street doctors, of dangerous prejudice and unexpected allies. She is aided by a disparate group of émigrés, each carrying secrets of their own.
But before she can discover the truth about Iolanthe, Anna will need to open herself – to her past, her present and the possibility of love.
Good Period Read! 
This is a fine read, and one which emulates the period it’s set in perfectly!
Anna Treadway is a dresser in the theatre; she assumes she has a close relationship with the star of the show whom she looks after, but when Iolanthe Green suddenly disappears after the show one evening, she is as much in the dark as any others. With no-one else seemingly doing very much to find Miss Green, Anna decides that the only option is for her to step up and see what she can discover.
This wasn’t quite the read I was expecting, but then it is another which had apparently got stuck at the bottom of my reading list. It’s a decent enough story, but it did go round the houses a bit. However, what did really appeal to me was the obvious social differences between then and now. There are some scenes which, by today’s standards, are quite shocking! I enjoyed the read, but it wasn’t as dazzling as I thought it was going to be.
My thanks to publisher Fourth Estate for my copy via NetGalley. These are my own unbiased opinions.
Tags: mystery, romance
- Format: ebook, paperback, hardback, audio
- Size: 305 pages
- Publisher: Fourth Estate
- Publication Date: 12 January 2017
- Purchase Links: GooglePlay
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- Waterstones
- kindle
Meet the Author
Miranda is a playwright and author. She’s a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 4 Extra (sometimes as Miranda Davies) where she specialises in adapting books for dramatic serialisation.
Her travel memoir Fragrant Heart was published by Summersdale in 2014. Her first novel Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars will be published by 4th Estate in the UK and HarperCollins in the US and Canada in 2017.
While her first book was inspired by a year living in Asia, her second draws on her years growing up in London. Inspired by the mystery writing of Agatha Christie and Charles Dickens’ portrait of London’s hidden worlds, she set out to write an adventure story – a quest – which would weave its way through the hidden worlds of 1960s London and beyond…
Grace J Reviewerlady 