The Names of the Stars

August 24, 2020
Tatlock (Once Beyond a Time) offers an entertaining, fanciful portrayal of a woman yearning for stardom. In 1918, 13-year-old Annalise Rycroft works the Midwestern vaudeville circuit with her mother and uncles. Annalise has a breathtaking singing voice, but she has hiccups whenever she is on stage. She is also haunted by a dream in which a baby disappears from her arms. Then, while she’s suffering from the Spanish flu, characters from her favorite book, A Christmas Carol, visit her and reveal the missing baby to be her brother, Henry, who was sent as an infant to an asylum after being deemed an “idiot”—an accusation her mother denies. After she recovers, Annalise’s hiccups recede and her star begins to rise; she puts all thoughts of Henry behind her. Then, in 1932, Annalise, now a successful singer, is visited by her long-estranged father, who seeks forgiveness and confirms the existence and abandonment of Henry. When an onstage disaster and a medical emergency lead Annalise to reevaluate her life, she is finally ready to make amends with God for the brother her family gave away. While faith elements are subtle, the inventive plotting and dreamlike sequences contain moments of inspiration. Readers who enjoy Kristy Cambron’s inspirational mysteries should check this out.

October 1, 2020

Annalise Rycroft dreams of being a vaudeville star just like her mother and her uncle. Her growing-up years include little in the way of traditional stability. Despite her spindly frame, Annalise's voice is a showstopper, but her quest for fame is overshadowed by a recurring nightmare involving a lost baby. A near-death experience during the 1918 influenza pandemic gives the young girl an otherworldly experience that explains the dream in terms similar to Ebenezer Scrooge's ghostly visitors in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. The message from beyond isn't quite enough, however, to keep Annalise from single-mindedly pursuing stardom, sometimes at the expense of "lesser" people in her life. Tatlock (I'll Watch the Moon) delivers a unique take on Scrooge-like transformations as she explores her character's ability to change through trials. VERDICT An authentic historical tale with touches of faith-inspired dreams for fans of Susan Meissner's As Bright as Heaven.--Christine Barth, Scott Cty. Lib. Syst., IA

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