The Unforgettable Loretta, Darling by Katherine Blake

 

Twenty-year-old Margaret manages to persuade an American to finance her way to Hollywood. She has dreams of becoming a famous make-up artist, but first, she must re-create herself and learn to deal with the seamier side of the movie business.

From the very beginning, we realise that author Katherine Blake has created a fearless character in Margaret. Her wiles take her from a working-class background in Morecombe to the golden era of 1950s Hollywood, as she becomes The Unforgettable Loretta, Darling.

I’m not sure what drew me to this book. I like to take a break from reading crime now and again so always look for something a little lighter in tone. I also love the era the book is set in.

The narrative has far more dialogue than I expected, so from the very beginning you are catapulted straight into the story with its gossipy style. This style, combined with the storyline of a young northern girl fleeing to America with big dreams seemed a bit too much like the backstreet saga’s my Mum loved to read. Initially, the story makes its inevitable progress, with Margaret, now known as Loretta, working in a diner and befriended by a prostitute.

Very quickly the story takes an extremely dark turn. At the beginning of the book, the author warns of scenes that the reader may find distressing, these scenes, particularly the first one, make for uncomfortable reading. They highlight the debauchery of the time, the way in which leading actors were treated as gods and could get away with anything while women were treated as commodities. The nature of some of the hedonistic parties was frequently written about in gossip columns but using a code that only people in the industry truly understood.

Once Loretta had glimpsed the seamier side of Hollywood I had hoped that the story was going to become an exposé of the darker side of the film industry during the 1950s, however, it continued to focus on her quest to become a famous make-up artist.

I liked the supporting characters and the frequent nods to real-life stars of the 1950s. Thanks to the descriptions I felt fully immersed in the backstage life on a movie set. We are given a glimpse into the magic of make-up and the studio trickery to make actors even more glamorous. The story could have been so much bigger, however, if it had picked one direction, either chasing dreams or an exposé and stuck with that. The ending does leave things open for a sequel and I’d happily spend time finding out how Loretta is doing chasing her dream.

The Unforgettable Loretta, Darling by Katherine Blake will be published on 20^th June 2024 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Viking Books UK for a review copy.

Author Details

Katherine Blake is a pseudonym for Karen Ball, an author who has written over twenty-five children’s books and was a Bookseller Rising Star thanks to her publishing consultancy, Speckled Pen. She regularly appears on podcasts, including The Bestseller Experiment and SJ Bennett’s PrePublished. She lives in London and runs a biweekly newsletter filled with fun news, book reviews, and regular updates about her miniature schnauzer.