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Goddess
No one knew who she was or where she came from, and no one who saw her ever forgot her. The camera loved her. The public adored her. But only one man -- one passionate, powerful, unattainable man -- could touch the heart of the GODDESS...
- GenresFiction
Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1985
44 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Pemberton
62 books36 followersMargaret A. Hudson was born on 10 April 1943 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK, of German extraction. She was daughter of Kathleen (Ramsden), an artist, and George Arthur Hudson, an architect. Married with Londoner Mike Pemberton, they have five grown children, today she lives with her husband and four small dogs in Whitstable, Kent. Apart from writing, her passions are tango, travel, English history and the English countryside.
Published since 1975, she is a bestselling romance writer as Margaret Pemberton, and under the pseudonyms Carris Carlisle; Maggie Hudson and Rebecca Dean. Having travelled extensively, her novels are set in different parts of the world. She was the fifteenth elected Chairman of the Romantic Novelists' Association (1989-1991), she has also served on the Crime Writers' Association Committee.
Published since 1975, she is a bestselling romance writer as Margaret Pemberton, and under the pseudonyms Carris Carlisle; Maggie Hudson and Rebecca Dean. Having travelled extensively, her novels are set in different parts of the world. She was the fifteenth elected Chairman of the Romantic Novelists' Association (1989-1991), she has also served on the Crime Writers' Association Committee.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 8, 2016
Great rags to riches story of an orphaned girl who finds stardom during the Golden Age of Hollywood. The basic plot of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy meets girl again, boy loses girl again, became just a tad tedious towards the end. However, the melodrama was at its finest which hoisted this one to five stars.
January 12, 2017
This is, by far, (one of) my favorite books. I don't know how to give it any more praise than that. It is invoking and brilliant and multifaceted. Valentina stirs my emotions with such ease. This book was beautifully crafted. I've read it time upon time and it still seizes my heart. I found it in high school during those allotted, mandatory reading periods; I've relished it ever since. It surprises me that it has so little recognition. But, secretly, I'm grateful; it's like my own personal treasure - the rest of the world oblivious to it.
June 11, 2015
What sucks about this book is that it had more potential than it cared to develop. It had all the elements of stories I love, regardless of "trashy" genres: strong, intelligent, kind-hearted heroine, amazing chemistry between the romantic leads, a redemptive rags-to-riches backstory and Hollywood glamour or luxury.
However, just as the story gets into the second half of the book the author took the romance genre's eye roll worthy trope of a grand misunderstanding between the leads that could easily have been solved with more direct communication. While this trope annoys me and is a sign of lazy conflict and plot development, I'm typically comfortable with it as it was the trend of it's time and genre to do such a thing even in timeless, well written bodice rippers. However, Miss Pemberton takes this trope to an unprecedented level that went beyond suspension of disbelief and into unintentionally comedic. Valentina and Vidal have an epic misunderstanding or twist of fate separate them before getting married/commiting, not once, but THREE times! And each disaster is initiated at the very last minute before what should be a triumphant or romantic moment- as if life would be so cruel and ironic EVERY time.
I wanted to read a romance, not a soap opera. The tone being set by this pattern was just silly and too indulgently self-important.
SPOILER ALERT MAYBE- At the end of the book, Vidal literal closing line is a rushed explanation of how he escaped a fiery, explosive car crash that his mentally ill wife caused and failed to emerge from unscathed. And of course, up until this climatic explanation every asshole Valentina came across was like "Yeah, he's definitely dead". How on earth were they able to declare something like that without an official body count made by the police or crime scene investigation?! Who made the phone call to Sutton to report that in the first place?! If Vidal had already left the scene and was in a condition to have his arm bandaged, who the fuck thought it was a good idea to declare him dead?! In the end, it just seems like a pathetic attempt on the author's part to allow Valentina to melodramatically return to the orphan convent and brood before a romantic meltdown reunion. It all felt very setup and unnatural.
And the misunderstanding where Valentina gets a fake cable message in broken English, she doesn't take the messages brevity as a sign that there should be more direct communication and takes everything at face value instantly. If this is the love of your life and he has just been in a house fire (this guy's track record for getting into accidents is amazing) how are you so easily pushed over by "Am alright. Don't call. Things can't carry on. Must end between us". Anyone in their right mind would want an explanation or more fluid conversation about a decision that would carry such weight, but Valentina's like "Okay, I get it. He hates me" and mopes around for SIX years.
Lastly, the portrayal of mental illness in Vidal's wife is just..............wow. Her condition is declared schizophrenia officially, but she behaves more like Hollywood's idea of bipolarism: one second she's a vacant, gentle child, the next she is a raging helion with crab claws and butcher knife, complete with unfounded screeching of what a selfish man whore you are.
So all in all, a disappointment. Good characters, horrible plotting.
However, just as the story gets into the second half of the book the author took the romance genre's eye roll worthy trope of a grand misunderstanding between the leads that could easily have been solved with more direct communication. While this trope annoys me and is a sign of lazy conflict and plot development, I'm typically comfortable with it as it was the trend of it's time and genre to do such a thing even in timeless, well written bodice rippers. However, Miss Pemberton takes this trope to an unprecedented level that went beyond suspension of disbelief and into unintentionally comedic. Valentina and Vidal have an epic misunderstanding or twist of fate separate them before getting married/commiting, not once, but THREE times! And each disaster is initiated at the very last minute before what should be a triumphant or romantic moment- as if life would be so cruel and ironic EVERY time.
I wanted to read a romance, not a soap opera. The tone being set by this pattern was just silly and too indulgently self-important.
SPOILER ALERT MAYBE- At the end of the book, Vidal literal closing line is a rushed explanation of how he escaped a fiery, explosive car crash that his mentally ill wife caused and failed to emerge from unscathed. And of course, up until this climatic explanation every asshole Valentina came across was like "Yeah, he's definitely dead". How on earth were they able to declare something like that without an official body count made by the police or crime scene investigation?! Who made the phone call to Sutton to report that in the first place?! If Vidal had already left the scene and was in a condition to have his arm bandaged, who the fuck thought it was a good idea to declare him dead?! In the end, it just seems like a pathetic attempt on the author's part to allow Valentina to melodramatically return to the orphan convent and brood before a romantic meltdown reunion. It all felt very setup and unnatural.
And the misunderstanding where Valentina gets a fake cable message in broken English, she doesn't take the messages brevity as a sign that there should be more direct communication and takes everything at face value instantly. If this is the love of your life and he has just been in a house fire (this guy's track record for getting into accidents is amazing) how are you so easily pushed over by "Am alright. Don't call. Things can't carry on. Must end between us". Anyone in their right mind would want an explanation or more fluid conversation about a decision that would carry such weight, but Valentina's like "Okay, I get it. He hates me" and mopes around for SIX years.
Lastly, the portrayal of mental illness in Vidal's wife is just..............wow. Her condition is declared schizophrenia officially, but she behaves more like Hollywood's idea of bipolarism: one second she's a vacant, gentle child, the next she is a raging helion with crab claws and butcher knife, complete with unfounded screeching of what a selfish man whore you are.
So all in all, a disappointment. Good characters, horrible plotting.
May 22, 2009
"Goddess" is a story of an orphan who went on to become Hollywood's ultimate Goddess. This book is incredible.
As a child, Daisy Ford was a lonely orphan raised by nuns in a convent. Her only friend in the place, the kindest nun in the convent perhaps, one day brought her magazines from the city - "the real world", the world Daisy has never met yet. She is immediately fascinated by the movie world as portrayed by the magazines, thus she asked the nun for more.
Moving forward...
A traumatic event happens: Daisy learns the truth about how she was brought to the orphanage. She learns too that the nuns do not know the whole name of Daisy's mother. "Ford" was a name given by the nuns, basing it on the car the mother had brought when she had hastily left Daisy.
The truth is so devastating for her, it lingers on until she arrives early adulthood.
By that time, she is ready to move out of the convent and face the real world. The nuns give her an address where she can work as a maid, but Daisy does not follow this the moment she steps out of the gates.
She vows she'd never call herself Daisy Ford again.
From that day forward, she is to be called Valentina.
A truck arrives, the driver looks at Valentina with pity because of the state of her clothes, and how extremely fragile she looks. She takes her in. The truck driver works for Hollywood, and he was just on his way there. He decides to take Valentina in anyway, and maybe do something to help her.
The ride to Hollywood is a stunning read. We are taken to a brilliant, passionate world with passionate people. The most dangerous, controversial director in Hollywood falls head over heels with her, and pursues her to star in his film. Meanwhile, Valentina is being propelled by people - and herself - to become the film goddess that she truly is. The whole development of the story, and especially of the characters, is simply beautiful.
As a child, Daisy Ford was a lonely orphan raised by nuns in a convent. Her only friend in the place, the kindest nun in the convent perhaps, one day brought her magazines from the city - "the real world", the world Daisy has never met yet. She is immediately fascinated by the movie world as portrayed by the magazines, thus she asked the nun for more.
Moving forward...
A traumatic event happens: Daisy learns the truth about how she was brought to the orphanage. She learns too that the nuns do not know the whole name of Daisy's mother. "Ford" was a name given by the nuns, basing it on the car the mother had brought when she had hastily left Daisy.
The truth is so devastating for her, it lingers on until she arrives early adulthood.
By that time, she is ready to move out of the convent and face the real world. The nuns give her an address where she can work as a maid, but Daisy does not follow this the moment she steps out of the gates.
She vows she'd never call herself Daisy Ford again.
From that day forward, she is to be called Valentina.
A truck arrives, the driver looks at Valentina with pity because of the state of her clothes, and how extremely fragile she looks. She takes her in. The truck driver works for Hollywood, and he was just on his way there. He decides to take Valentina in anyway, and maybe do something to help her.
The ride to Hollywood is a stunning read. We are taken to a brilliant, passionate world with passionate people. The most dangerous, controversial director in Hollywood falls head over heels with her, and pursues her to star in his film. Meanwhile, Valentina is being propelled by people - and herself - to become the film goddess that she truly is. The whole development of the story, and especially of the characters, is simply beautiful.
January 18, 2023
the return at the very end really got me even tho i didn't give a shit about vidal through the entire book. the melodrama imagery was just so strong, i could visualise the entire scene.. it made me think of a gerardo de leon movie, or maybe a scene from armando bó's fiebre (neither are melodrama directors exactly and of course the entire book is set in the 30s & 40s but that's how it looked in my head!). idk. hats off to m. pemberton.
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August 31, 2007I’m a sucker for a good orphan story. Especially a romantic rags-to-riches one. In “Goddess” the narrator has been raised by nuns after being abandoned on their doorstep as a baby. She leaves the convent when she is around 17 or 18 and instead of going to the address where the nuns have sent her to live and work she goes to Hollywood. In Hollywood, she becomes a mysterious movie star than all the men flock to. This novel is pure fluff but in a good way. You won’t feel like your losing points off of your IQ for reading it. Think Jane Erye & Dickens only not “literature” but “romance”.
February 5, 2025
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September 21, 2010
Very good book. Couldn't put it down. Easy read.
August 21, 2024
I’ve just read this 40 yr old novel for the third time . I have my original 1985 paperback copy and the original title was Silver Shadows , Golden Dreams in the UK. I’d have to admit that the story has more than a touch of Mills and Boon about it . We have, Vidal , the moody devilishly handsome Hungarian movie director, who stalks around the film sets with his shirts ‘ gashed at the throat ‘ . We have Valentina, the orphan straight out of the convent , who blossoms into a slimmer more graceful version of Elizabeth Taylor, amethyst eyes and all . If you have ever read Jane Eyre you will be familiar with the hero having a mad wife in the attic? Well Vidal has one too. She is a huge spoke in the works of the great love affair between Vidal and Valentina. This all takes place in the golden era of Hollywood, in the 30’s so we have sumptuous houses, cars with fearful sounding names, like Hizpanzo Souza and leading men with pencil moustaches. Allowing for the somewhat cringeworthy phrases to modern ears , this is a fantastic fantasy read. You can lose yourself in the world of Vidal and Val and their star crossed love affair . I loved it .
July 9, 2023
This wasn't bad, and it reminded me of the TV miniseries that were so popular in the 1980's. In fact, it would have made a really good one.
I'm taking a star off for the way too over-the-top misunderstandings and separations between Valentina and Vidal, and also because she does something I CAN'T STAND, though I understand why she did what she did, however misguided. I just don't believe (unless he's a criminal, alcoholic, drug addict. abuser or mentally unstable) a woman should keep her child a secret from his father, it's not fair and it's wrong!
I also didn't like it that, in order to bring about the HEA, a good and (rare for this book) worthwhile person had to die. That was crummy!
I'm taking a star off for the way too over-the-top misunderstandings and separations between Valentina and Vidal, and also because she does something I CAN'T STAND, though I understand why she did what she did, however misguided. I just don't believe (unless he's a criminal, alcoholic, drug addict. abuser or mentally unstable) a woman should keep her child a secret from his father, it's not fair and it's wrong!
I also didn't like it that, in order to bring about the HEA, a good and (rare for this book) worthwhile person had to die. That was crummy!
July 23, 2015
I think this is the 100th time I've read this book, love it
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews