Story tellers will love this book within a book atmosphere. The storyline of an unknown bookseller being invited to write the biography of the most well known actress of the time keeps you guessing from page one. The twist at the end was one one you never saw coming and prompts you to re-read it to closely examine the things you might have missed in the first pass through. ( )

I loved this book! The gothic feel, the dark secrets, the gripping story, everything. I couldn't put it down. Favorite quotes:"What succor, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story? What good is truth, at midnight, in the dark, when the wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney? When the lightning strikes shadows on the bedroom wall and the rain taps at the window with its long fingernails? No. When fear and cold make a statue of you in your bed, don't expect hard-boned and fleshless truth to come running to your aid. What you need are the plump comforts of a story. The soothing, rocking safety of a lie.""I read old novels. The reason is simple: I prefer proper endings. Marriages and deaths, noble sacrifices and miraculous restorations, tragic separations and unhoped-for reunions, great falls and dreams fulfilled; these, in my view, constitute an ending worth the wait. They should come after adventures, perils, dangers and dilemmas, and wind everything up nice and neatly. Endings like this are to be found more commonly in old novels than new ones, so I read old novels.""When I was a child, books were everything. And so there is in me, always, a nostalgic yearning for the lost pleasure of books." ( )

T

This book was an enjoyable read. I enjoyed the story line & plot twists. The stories of Vida Winter & Margaret Lea will be on my mind for quite awhile. ( )

My Friends Lunch Bunch pick 2008. Had a large group and lots of fun discussing this book. Made a long list of all the elements from a typical Gothic novel. A young women whose father owns a bookshop and who has only a biography of an obscure woman to her credit is asked to write the biography of a famous novelist. This novelist invents her life and changes the story of her own life as easily as she invents and changes her stories. Expected something with the twins, but not the twist at the end. Great read.