When legendary star of the silver screen, Kitty Karr Tate dies, she leaves her entire fortune to actress Elise St. John and her two sisters, who were raised in a neighboring Bel Air mansion. Their mother Sarah, also a famous actress, is married to James, a well-known musician. Elise, who was very close to Kitty, is preparing for a Vogue photo shoot and is up for an Academy Award. And like everyone else, she is very curious as to why Kitty willed her entire fortune to Elise and her sisters. The fact that a famous white actress would leave millions to three Black sisters raised lots of questions. This intriguing story shifts to Jim Crow-era North Carolina in the 1930s, where we meet Hazel, a young Black woman who has lost her entire family. She works for a wealthy family whose promiscuous tobacco-heir son prays upon her and soon wants nothing to do with their daughter Mary, who is as light skinned as his legitimate daughter. This multi-generational story shifts to mid-century Hollywood as Kitty is getting her start while hiding her true identity as a Black woman trying to pass as white. The story circles back to the present when the truth about Kitty is uncovered.

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? is an impressive debut by author Crystal Smith Paul. It is an engrossing look at racism and sexism over time. The main characters of Hazel, Kitty and Elise were well developed. However, there was a large cast of secondary characters that came in and out of the story and were oftentimes hard to keep track of. With that small point aside, this book tells an important story about injustice. I was fully immersed in this moving book and recommend it.

I would love to see this story brought to the screen.

Rated 4.25 stars.

Did You Hear about Kitty Karr? is a great idea that suffers from a disorganized storytelling and a weak modern framing story. But its portrait of colorism, racism, and life lived in a segregated America is compelling.

When storied actress Kitty Karr Tate passes away and wills her $60 million fortune to the St. John sisters, the world is confused. Kitty was just a trusted friend and neighbor of the family, a mentor to actress-model oldest sister Elise. The St. Johns have no idea why so much money has been given to them.

That is, until Elise finds herself in charge of managing Kitty’s last affairs. While cleaning out her house, she discovers a journal, and that journal reveals multiple shockers, first, that Kitty was a black woman who passed as a white one to get out of the segregated south. Even more shocking, Kitty is the St. John girl’s biological grandmother, which explains her long-held kindness toward them. While Elise tries to figure out how to handle the release of Kitty’s secrets to the public and the revelation that she’s related to the woman, she copes with a breakup, a disastrous social media mistake, and the re-entry of a very special man into her life who might ruin an upcoming Vogue Magazine shoot for her – or bring burning love back into her life.

Elise also learns of Hazel, who responded to a rape that left her pregnant by climbing into a job watching rich white people’s kids so that she could shelter her daughter, Mary, to a degree from the vagaries of life in Jim Crow-era North Carolina. Mary, after a sad fracturing of her relationship with Hazel, becomes Kitty and takes on the sexist, racist world of Hollywood. Her complicated relationship with her agent, Emma, and her multiple spouses decorate and complicate her life. Can Elise uncover Kitty’s secret past while ensuring a brighter future for herself?

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? has a big problem – it’s a tri-generational, tri PoV novel that ought to have been told in chronological order from Hazel’s story all the way to Elise’s. And, at minimum, Elise’s story needed more forethought and attention; I found her a lot less interesting than iron-willed Kitty/Mary and Hazel. Why does Elise even have two sisters? We spend no time with them. The pacing is seriously off; we receive chapters of worldbuilding from Elise’s PoV, then shift into Kitty’s and Hazel’s for a chapter, then an incredibly important plot point is delivered in a brief letter instead of on-page in prose. I liked Elise well enough as a person, but I found her glittery life a distraction from Kitty’s rise to the top and Hazel’s grit and determination to survive. It’s bad enough that her mother, Sarah, gets little of the book’s narrative attention. We hear about how her life went through dialogue and brief flashbacks.

Also, I have no idea why the journal is established as a plot point, as we see all of the chapters from Hazel or Elise or Kitty’s points-of-view and not a whit of the book is epistolary except for Kitty’s single revelatory letter. And the doozy of a final scene, in which Elise chooses to ignore her mother’s wishes to make a point in a gambit for generational healing, feels abrupt.

But this is a powerful book that beautifully captures the horrors of racism, the tight bonds that tie us generationally, the nightmare that colorism causes in the Black community. Kitty is such a strong and loveable central heroine, Hazel is impossible not to sympathize with, Elise is a good person, and the history is immaculately delivered. The story is addictive, and it contains two sweet central romances that are somewhat beside the point. But Did You Hear about Kitty Karr? needs a little bit more seasoning to be a truly unforgettable read.

When Hollywood legend Kitty Karr Tate dies at age 81, there’s one question the whole world wants answered: why did the iconic white actress leave her billion-dollar fortune to the Black daughters of her co-star in a sitcom that first aired nearly fifty years ago? This book is far from perfect, but the parts about Black women passing in 1930s and 40s North Carolina and 1950s Hollywood are RIVETING.

This was a fascinating book, one that gripped me from start to finish. While it is about fame and family secrets, its purpose is much bigger than that. This book tackles huge questions about race and “passing” and privilege and the abuse and atrocity in many southern families, and the complicated implications of it that persist today. On a personal level, it was impossible for me to read this book without thinking of the “passing” (and abuse) in my own family, one I coincidentally uncovered through a DNA test a couple weeks after receiving this ARC. The author makes it a point to remind us that Kitty Karr’s story isn’t unique, and that’s exactly why it’s so important.

Fascinating story! Kitty Carr is a famous white actress who dies and leaves her estate to three Black women, daughters of celebrities themselves. The perspective moves from 2017, just after Kitty's death, to mid 1900's as we follow a young Black girl named Mary growing up. How are these characters connected? You have to read to find out, but a major concept is the idea of passing. I really liked this...but sometimes I was a little confused. The beginning jumps right into the story and I was confused how the family knew Kitty. There are a lot of characters to keep straight. The ending fizzled a bit for me. I liked where the author was going, but it seemed to end without a bang. Maybe a little more editing would make this stronger, but it was a good read. I love reading about different perspectives and this was so interesting to me!

This will be a hard one to write a review without spoilers. Let’s just say it has timelines in the golden age of Hollywood and present Holly. It has multiple pov’s which I always enjoy and it’s full of historical events that I knew about but not well enough.
I thought the writing in the book was good and really my only complaint would be the first two thirds of the book was nicely paced but the last one third of the book felt rushed. I will definitely read another book by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for a honest opinion. 4⭐️

This book is eye-opening, dramatic, shocking, and emotional! I could not put this book down!

Thank you NetGalley for the e-book ARC!

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? tells the story of legendary actress Kitty Karr.
When she dies, she leaves her entire estate to the esteemed St. John family. This leaves the world with many questions, as Kitty Karr was a white actress and the St. John family (who, themselves are also acclaimed celebrities) are black.
With her death, it opens up a floodgate of family secrets, debts and "crimes".

This is one debut novel I definitely recommend.

It is told with a dual timeline, and Kitty's story was one that kept me reading it.
Kitty's story is told from her down south upbringing to how she made it in Hollywood, and after her death.
I definitely enjoyed Kitty's backstory more than reading about after her death.

The ending was a bit lackluster to me, just because I wanted more. I felt like the book could've went with an epilogue, maybe a few years after her death but all in all it was definitely a novel I recommend.
This is one book I will definitely pick up after it is published.

Bravo to Crystal Smith Paul on her debut novel. This story was spot on what I had hoped it would be based on the dust jacket description. An intriguing story weaving between modern day, the South in the 30s, and Hollywood in the 1950-60s, this storyline wove together family, racism, passing, and so much more. I also learned a great deal personally from many of the storyline’s settings and female stories mirroring, I am sure, many women’s stories through the last century.

While this story was engaging, I will say the modern day 2017 storyline and characters were a bit more on the muddled side and just not as smoothly written. This gave a bit of a feeling of choppiness and made me wish the story remained on Kitty Karr almost entirely without any shifting. Still I could not put this down and I am very grateful to have been given an advanced copy to enjoy and review.

This just wasn’t for me. I didn’t like the style that it was written in. Thank you to the publisher anyway.

Crystal Smith Paul’s “Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?“ opens shortly after the death of screen legend Kitty Karr Tate. When the white television and film icon, reclusive in her later years, leaves behind her entire multi-mullion dollar estate to Elise, Giovanni, and Noele St. John—three black sisters who have been famous since birth thanks to the accomplishments of their actress mother and musician father—the inheritance opens up a barrage of questions from the press and public. What happened to Kitty? Why did she leave the money to them? What was their connection?

The story is told from multiple perspectives and points in time. In 2017, actress Elise is dealing with backlash from her politically charged social media posts; an unfaithful fiancé and their crumbling relationship; and now grief for her late friend and neighbor. In the 1930s and 40s, Hazel is a black single mother raising a white-passing child in segregated North Carolina. In the 1950s, daughter Mary graduates high school, assumes a white persona, and starts working in Hollywood where she encounters many people with their own secrets. The end result is a captivating tale about racism, colorism, privilege, and identity.

Overall, “Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?” is well-written and engrossing, but I did feel like some parts were rushed and like some scenes were even missing—I would have loved to see more of Kitty as her status elevated higher in the industry and further explorations of how both her fame and hidden background affected her sense of self and relationships with others. I believe that would have given the novel even more of an emotional impact. Even so, I still think it is a fascinating story and would be a good selection for a book club or buddy read because of the potential discussions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co. for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. My review was posted online on April 4, 2023 to: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5416380198.

When Hollywood icon Kitty Karr (think Elizabeth Taylor) leaves her estate to the St. John sisters (Black excellence nepotism through their famed parents), everyone has questions. Switching from the 1930s to the present of 2017, the author brings to life each decade as we discover why Kitty made the decisions she did. The switching between timelines is choppy and the present day parts with the St John sisters aren't as interesting.

This book filled the Evelyn Hugo sized hole in by chest. I don't know if this will blow up to the same magnitude, but an A++ addition to most libraries.

The premise to this book sounded like City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert which had me intrigued, but unfortunately I couldn't feel connected to any of the characters.

This book was a great read! This storyline is a dual pov (which I love), and is told in two time frames: one in present day, where the St. John’s sisters inherit a fortune from their family friend and Hollywood icon, Kitty Karr. The other timeline takes place years ago, and begins with Hazel, a Black girl who works in a White household. This book does an excellent job at examining the line between White living and Black living—whether it’s years ago, or today. In addition to being an important and educational book, it was also just plain GOOD. A good storyline, very readable-one of those books you find yourself getting lost in. A big thank you to Henry Holt & co and Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Star of the silver screen Kitty Karr dies and leaves her estate to the St John sisters. Hollywood and the entire world doesn't understand what connects this start to these three black sisters.

Ultimately, this is a look at the horrifying Jim Crow laws of the South. Kitty was never able to say who she truly was and this trickled down - all the way to the St John sisters. It's an interesting way to frame the story - it almost reminded me of that Evelyn Hugo book - where there's a 'secret' and someone has to figure it out......to unravel their own life.

Crystal Smith Paul is a fantastic writer and clearly researches her subject to make sure that everything is believable, sophisticated, and most of all, compelling.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book .

This book was really something special. It centered around a topic I haven't read about or honestly considered much - how black people of lighter complexion would "pass" as white in the time of segregation. It makes complete sense that they would have done so given the environment in our country during that time period, yet adds so much sorrow when you consider how it changes their lives and what they had to give up. The characters in this book, especially Mary/Kitty and the women of Blair House, really do jump off the page and involve you in their story. I will withhold one star as I believe the introduction of the back story was a little awkward - the book seemed quite disjointed for a while and it was jarring. Once you got past the early stages, the story flowed well and was very difficult to put down. Highly recommended read.

This sweeping multigenerational saga is worthy of its own miniseries as a family uncovers their incredible legacy and what Black women must do to survive, set against the backdrop of old Hollywood glamour. If Evelyn Hugo and The Vanishing Half had a baby, it would be a powerful story that examines race and privilege.

Eighty-one-year-old Kitty Karr Tate has died, and her death has dominated the week's news. She was an American icon, an Academy Award winner, a writer, a television star, and a philanthropist. But, along with praise for her career, there are also wild conspiracy theories about her mysterious life and the circumstances of her demise.

In one final mysterious plot twist, Kitty has bequeathed her entire fortune- approximately six million dollars to the Black daughters of her co-star in a sitcom aired almost fifty years ago. As these women are thrust further into the spotlight, they are left to grapple with why they received these funds. After all, they are daughters who had been multimillionaires by birth. Why do they receive this unexpected windfall?

We get to solve this mystery along with the St. Johns family in this dual-timeline story, beginning in the 1930s and shifting to 2017. The story starts with Hazel, who works for the white, wealthy Lake family, whose financial wealth was built by black hands. Their family legacy is tobacco grown, cured, and manufactured under their family's name in Winston-Salem.

Hazel’s beauty catches the eye of one of their sons, and, like many women before her, she is raped and ends up pregnant with his child. Rather than give the baby up, Hazel keeps her daughter and names her Mary Magdalene because she believes she will one day "absolve the sin of her creation." This baby appears as white as any other children, and at this discovery of her fair skin, Hazel decides that maybe there really is a God after all. Hazel’s goal is for Mary to have the life she never could, and it is a sacrifice that starts early.

In this world of passing, we follow Mary's childhood days as her mother takes her to a neighboring town where she can play and have experiences like a white child, while her mother monitors her as the help rather than her mother. She offers Mary the continued legacy as she paves her way to Hollywood, breaking all ties to her so she can pass as white. There she is, newly named Kitty Karr, and she starts her new life in California, quickly finding her way into Hollywood after showing a genuine interest in what is happening in a nearby movie lot.

Rising to the top of Hollywood isn't easy; it isn't just her talent and beauty that gets her there. It is made possible through a secret network of women who can also pass and help her along the way. They teach each other the skills they need to survive, including avoiding any behaviors that could give them away: no spicy foods, staying out of the sun, not using grease in their hair, and hiding their Jet magazine issues. For Kitty, it is initially quite exhausting, but those who can pass as white climb up the ladder and can help other women do the same.

This network's job is to keep these Black women in Hollywood's top roles, keep the most powerful people informed of important headline news, and fund crucial nonprofit work that helps their mission.

As Kitty adjusts, she also must acknowledge that there are days when she isn’t really white and that she “no longer feels splintered but someone else entirely.” As she straddles these two very different worlds, we feel torn along with her.

This ambitious novel is over four hundred pages long and outstanding from start to finish. Crystal Smith Paul's scope in our fractured world acknowledges the grim realities of racial disparities while offering the reader reprieves through fantastical Hollywood escapes.

While I found the present timeline less compelling than Kitty's rich history, the way the author ended this present timeline’s message ends with profound wisdom while honoring the legacy of this fictional starlet, which felt altogether real.

This book feels very much like a novice's first stab at a novel, and the bloated story could have done with some extensive editing. I wanted to like the story because I was interested in the premise, but the actual reading experience was patchy and disjointed, like the book just couldn't get legs.

This is a bold debut from Crystal Smith Paul, taking on huge subjects and an 80-year span. Given the vastness of her story, she tackles it well and provides impressive depth to the four generations she follows. For me, she tried to do a little too much which left some of the motivations, characters, and relationships a bit lacking--I would have preferred she narrow the scope slightly to go deeper in some places--but that's a personal preference, and I can easily imagine readers will love this book. I particularly recommend this for fans of historical fiction (this covers the 1930s-2010s), hollywood opulence, intergenerational sagas, and tales exposing the complicated racism in America without having to read too much unpleasantness.

This feels like an accessible read for fans of The Vanishing Half or people who enjoy Taylor Jenkins Reid. I tend to prefer a bit more grit--something less pat. But this is a comfortable read for a white person to look at how things were without having to contend too deeply with our complicity as white women.

That said, the characters Smith Paul created were often robust and compelling, and many of the relationships had texture. I think she did what she intended to do quite well, and she created an extremely readable and compelling story. She jumped between time periods pretty well, though at times the far-past chapters dragged. Ultimately, however, I though Smith Paul was intentional with what she shared, where she went deep, and what she glossed over. I felt in very capable hands as I got swept into this story.