From dust to stardust A novel

Rooney's (Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey, 2020) latest graceful and incisive spinning of biography into fiction stems from her fascination with the opulent, one-ton Fairy Castle that enchants visitors to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, a unique dollhouse created by Colleen Moore, an early film actor turned philanthropist. In Rooney's sprightly tale, Eileen Sullivan, in her sixties in the 1960s, arrives at the museum to record an audio tour of the exquisitely detailed castle, a recitation that turns into the spellbinding story of her trailblazing life. At age 14, movie-fanatic Eileen heads to Hollywood with her Irish grandmother, determined to become a star. As Doreen O'Dare, she begins to ascend, though slowly, until she falls for Jack Flanagan, who initially propels her to better roles and studio contracts. But as she triumphs by embodying the "New Woman," a vivacious flapper with boldly bobbed hair, Jack's drinking turns treacherous. Eileen is a keen, funny, and entrancing narrator, and Rooney deftly weaves delectable film and women's history into her enrapturing tale, including the striking story of Eileen's magical castle and how she took it cross-country during the Great Depression to lift hearts and raise money for children's charities. Rooney's delight in the real story behind this richly faceted novel burnishes it to a bewitching luster.

Rooney (Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk) draws on the story of silent film star Colleen Moore for an enchanting if meandering tale of old Hollywood. In 1916, fourteen-year-old Eileen Sullivan leaves her hometown of Tampa, Fla., for Los Angeles, determined to make it as an actor. She clinches a string of successful roles, thanks in part to Jack Flanagan, an alcoholic and abusive PR man who she marries in 1923. She also befriends such luminaries as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Clara Bow. In addition to acting, Eileen has a passion for stories about fairies, and during the Great Depression, she hits the road to exhibit her Fairy Castle, a dollhouse-like sculpture full of miniature fairies. Eileen narrates in 1968, having been asked to tell her life story for a Chicago museum, which will display the castle. She recounts her divorce from Jack followed by two more marriages, and her pivot in the 1940s to a second career as a financial adviser. There's not much of a plot, but Rooney sketches her quirky characters in sparkling prose ("Bloated and red, stunk of whiskey and sat in an easy chair clutching the morning paper; the headline was about Churchill. It looked like an establishing shot in a melodrama"). Devotees of golden age Hollywood should check this out. (Sept.)