Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely love Fred Astaire. I grew up watching his movies, especially those with Ginger Rogers, over and over again until I could practically recite the lines by memory. However, I have found that most people are unaware of how he got his start, dancing with his sister, Adele. The historical fiction novel, <u>Starring Adele Astaire</u>, by Eliza Knight aims to correct this ignorance by introducing us to Adele, following the arc of her career and life in the United States, Britain, and Ireland starting with the sister-brother dancing act with Fred (known as Freddie in the family).

I enjoyed this novel; I always seem to enjoy the historical fiction novels written about famous, albeit lesser-known, persons to see another side of history as it were. The book opens with Adele and Freddie during the 1920s in their theatrical sister-brother dancing performances. Through a certain performance, Adele meets Violet, another dancer (and cocktail waitress) hoping to follow her dreams of becoming a star on the stage.

The novel continues alternating between Adele and Violet as the narrators which initially I found to be a little confusing. Not confusing to follow but confusing as a stylistic choice. It works but sometimes I found myself wishing that the book would just follow Adele and not a second person. Adele’s story is interesting enough on its own, at least to me, and I feel that a second narrator wasn’t necessary although the friendship seen between the two women develop is heartwarming.

Both women are from disadvantaged backgrounds although Adele is further along in her career as a dancer than Violet by the time we meet her. Adele acts as mentor for Violet, giving her her first big break in a production and looking out for her on stage and off. Life certainly throws curveballs to both women in love, career, and family and the reader certainly develops a level of empathy for the more negative life events. However, going back to the two-narrators issue, the women aren’t even together or communicating to one another for over half the book. I get that it’s supposed to show a deep, long-lasting friendship that picks up wherever it left off, but it makes me wonder why? Why bother having a second narrator at all if it’s not going to interact with the first narrator. Again, it’s a stylistic choice but not one I really cared for.

Overall, I’d give this book four out of five stars. I enjoyed it on the whole and found the look into Adele’s life and career to be interesting; I just didn’t mesh well with some of the stylistic options in storytelling.

Note: I was given early access to this book by the publishing house William Morrow or Custom House in return for an honest review. This book comes out June 6, 2023.

I liked this book. I learned more about the Astaires. I had read about them in other books but I didn’t know much about them until this book. I would definitely recommend this book to others.

I really enjoyed this fictional book about Adele Astaire, it was what I was hoping for from the description and had the style that I was hoping for in a historical novel. Eliza Knight has a great writing style that does what I was hoping for. The plot worked really well and I enjoyed what I read, it had great characters and I'm glad I read this.

"Like a lot of things in her life, Violet had Adele to thank for Pris’s love of books. Having spent so much time over the past decade with Adele and her literary friends, Violet had received more than one book, which she’d then gifted to Pris. To pass the time and reconnect after the loss of their mother, Violet and Pris had spent many evenings reading together, by the light of a slowly burning candle to save on electricity."