Review by Booklist Review
It is 1939, the world is on the brink of war, and the very first Cannes Film Festival is taking place. Annabel has been working at the Grand Hotel for her uncle for only a short time when she witnesses the Hollywood glamour that takes over the historical building. Wrapped up in the glitz and charm of the actors and actresses--including real-life luminaries like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mae West, and Charles Laughton--Annabel loses a bit of herself and misses some red flags. Working closely with the hotel guests, she realizes that not everyone is who they appear to be. When she finds her uncle, JP, communicating with London, Annabel does a little of her own espionage work that could upset the whole Nazi communication system. Her most difficult task becomes figuring out whom to trust. After secret meetings, drugged wine, and even murder, Annabel is soon fearing for her life. With sparkling characters and a riveting plot, Aubray's latest (after The Godmothers, 2021) will appeal to fans of old Hollywood and historical fiction in general.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Aubray's fun and surprising third novel (after 2021's The Godmothers) follows a 20-year-old American woman on the French Riviera during the birth of the Cannes Film Festival in summer 1939. Earlier in the year, Annabel Faucon faced the untimely deaths of her mother and father, from the flu and a heart attack, respectively. Her uncle JP, who manages the Grand Hôtel du Cap des Rêves, invites her to visit and offers her a job typing up scripts for F. Scott Fitzgerald, who befriends Annabel and warns her about fickle Hollywood types. Annabel also acts as a translator and tour guide for matinee idol Jack Cabot and his German actor girlfriend Téa Marlo. Annabel quickly falls for Jack, who's trying to scout locations to make his own film. The initial two-thirds of the novel verge on frothy escapism as Annabel hobnobs with the rich and famous, who conveniently take a shine to her, but all the while Aubray has set the stage for deeper themes of exploitation, the reach of fascism, and the limits of political loyalty, as Téa is frequently courted by Nazi officials who want her to do favors for their regime and Jack schemes to make Annabel a star. Readers will be swept away. Agent: Susan Golomb, Writers House. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
