by Noella Noelophile®
Dorothy Lane, familiarly known as Dolly, is a dreamer–and a doer.
A chambermaid, living in post-World War I London, Dolly is a woman with a past heartbreak. She eats, sleeps and breathes musical theatre, attending West End chorus auditions at every opportunity. In the face of less-than-stellar results and the assurances of those around her that she’ll “never amount to anything”, she doggedly pursues her dream of a stage career.
So begins Hazel Gaynor’s The Girl from the Savoy, with a first-person look inside the life of Dolly Lane as she sloshes through a downpour. On her way to her first day at work at The Savoy, London’s emblematic luxury hotel, Dolly believes her fortunes are about to change.
Then Dolly barrels into a stranger–who turns out to be musical composer Peregrine Clements. But beyond leaving her with a mild crush and a discarded score, and making her late for her first day of work, the encounter changes nothing .
Next, we meet West End musical-theatre star Loretta May. On the surface, she appears to have everything.
(Royalty-free image by PublicDomainArchive from Pixabay
A daughter of a high-society family, “Etta”, as she is called, has made her mark on the stage. Her onstage work, as well as a hiatus serving as a nurse to troops, has won her the adulation of audiences. Her social circle includes luminaries of the literary and theatrical world. As we meet her, Etta is preparing for her opening night as the star of a new musical.
Weekly, Etta meets her brother, musical composer Peregrine Clements, for tea at Claridge’s.
But Etta is harboring an ominous secret…and Perry has smacked up hard against a creative block…
And nothing is predictable–nor completely as it seems–which is the beauty of The Girl From the Savoy.
Hazel Gaynor takes us inside the head of each of her main characters, letting us experience their worlds in first-person. Rich in detail, The Girl From the Savoy creates the world in which each character lives. We can almost hear the giggles of Dolly’s best friend Clover and feel the overbearing heat as the “gallery girls” stampede to the balcony on their day off to see their idol, Loretta May, perform in her latest hit show.
This particular author has several other books which I especially like. A Memory of Violets, which parallels stories of a Victorian flower-seller and a young, early-twentieth-century London assistant housemother with a secret in her past, runs a close second. I also loved Meet Me in Monaco, which Hazel Gaynor co-wrote with Heather Webb and which gives us a look past the “glamour” surrounding a young Grace Kelly at the time of her marriage to Prince Rainier.
And as of October 2020, according to her website, she’s also published a new historical novel: When We Were Young & Brave, which I’m now looking forward to reading!
However, if I had to choose a top favorite–with a lot of humor, heart and a completely vicarious triumphant glow at one point in the story (no, no “spoilers”–not sorry!), The Girl From the Savoy walks offstage with five Christmas stars.