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MISS TREADWAY & THE FIELD OF STARS
In this sparkling debut novel imbued with the rich intrigue of Kate Atkinson’s literary mysteries and the spirited heart of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, a disparate group of Londoners plunge into a search for a missing American actress.
In the dreary days of November 1965, American actress Iolanthe Green has become the toast of the West End. Charismatic, mysterious, and beautiful, she brings color and a sprinkling of glamour to the scuffed boards of Soho’s Galaxy Theatre. But one evening, after another rapturously received performance, Iolanthe walks through the stage door, out into the cold London night, and vanishes.
All of London is riveted as Fleet Street speculates about the missing actress’s fate. But as time passes and the case grows colder, the public’s interest turns to the unfolding Moors Murders and erupting political scandals. Only Anna Treadway, Iolanthe’s dresser at the Galaxy, still cares. A young woman of dogged determination with a few dark secrets of her own, she is determined to solve the mystery of the missing actress.
A disparate band of London émigrés—an Irish policeman, a Turkish coffee-house owner and his rebellious daughter, and a literature-loving Jamaican accountant—joins Anna in her quest, an odyssey that leads them into a netherworld of jazz clubs, backstreet doctors, police brutality, and seaside ghost towns. Each of these unusual sleuths has come to London to escape the past and forge a new future. Yet as they draw closer to uncovering the truth of Iolanthe’s disappearance, they may have to face the truth about themselves.
In the dreary days of November 1965, American actress Iolanthe Green has become the toast of the West End. Charismatic, mysterious, and beautiful, she brings color and a sprinkling of glamour to the scuffed boards of Soho’s Galaxy Theatre. But one evening, after another rapturously received performance, Iolanthe walks through the stage door, out into the cold London night, and vanishes.
All of London is riveted as Fleet Street speculates about the missing actress’s fate. But as time passes and the case grows colder, the public’s interest turns to the unfolding Moors Murders and erupting political scandals. Only Anna Treadway, Iolanthe’s dresser at the Galaxy, still cares. A young woman of dogged determination with a few dark secrets of her own, she is determined to solve the mystery of the missing actress.
A disparate band of London émigrés—an Irish policeman, a Turkish coffee-house owner and his rebellious daughter, and a literature-loving Jamaican accountant—joins Anna in her quest, an odyssey that leads them into a netherworld of jazz clubs, backstreet doctors, police brutality, and seaside ghost towns. Each of these unusual sleuths has come to London to escape the past and forge a new future. Yet as they draw closer to uncovering the truth of Iolanthe’s disappearance, they may have to face the truth about themselves.
304 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 195 reviews
December 13, 2016
This is a 1960s atmospheric period mystery set in London. This is less a crime story, more an exploration of the immigrant experience in a city struggling to adapt to recent incomers. It begins with the disappearance of Iolanthe 'Lanny' Green, an actress and the media's temporary obsession with what happened to her. As the media and police downgrade the importance of the story, Anna Treadway, Lanny's dresser at the Galaxy Theatre, decides to find out what happened to her. Sergeant Brennan Hayes, who changed his first name to Barnaby to escape the anti Irish sentiments he faces, investigates Lanny's background. On occasion, Anna and Hayes collaborate.
So we are given insights into a small group of outsiders, their lives, backgrounds, hopes and failures. We learn of Brennan, Orla and their daughter, Gracie. Turkish cafe owner, Ottamar, works all the hours for his family and he worries about his daughter, Samira, and her disconnect with the family. Leonard is gay in a world where this is illegal. Anna meets Aloysius, a refined old fashioned courteous gentleman trying to maintain his dignity amidst the appalling racism and police brutality he encounters. The world of backstreet abortions is revealed and attitudes to women leave a lot to be desired. A marriage that has become frosty slowly begins to unravel. Deceptions and secrets emerge amidst characters trying desperately to reinvent themselves in their search for new identities. In the search for Lanny and who she is, a tentative and delicate relationship develops despite all that conspires against it. We come to understand exactly why Anna comes to care so much about Lanny as her turmoil and trauma unfolds.
This group of characters connect with each other, and we see the loneliness and silence within, the crushed dreams, despair and their hopes for new opportunities to rebuild anew. It is a hard world that demands sacrifices and stoicism. The descriptions of London vividly evoke the 1960s culture and attitudes. A society that is afraid of people with different skin colours, and reacts with hate and anger. The author beautifully delineates the succour the group gain from each other, a respite to counter the daily knockdowns they face. This is a novel to savour. Highly recommended. Thanks to HarperCollins 4th Estate for an ARC.
So we are given insights into a small group of outsiders, their lives, backgrounds, hopes and failures. We learn of Brennan, Orla and their daughter, Gracie. Turkish cafe owner, Ottamar, works all the hours for his family and he worries about his daughter, Samira, and her disconnect with the family. Leonard is gay in a world where this is illegal. Anna meets Aloysius, a refined old fashioned courteous gentleman trying to maintain his dignity amidst the appalling racism and police brutality he encounters. The world of backstreet abortions is revealed and attitudes to women leave a lot to be desired. A marriage that has become frosty slowly begins to unravel. Deceptions and secrets emerge amidst characters trying desperately to reinvent themselves in their search for new identities. In the search for Lanny and who she is, a tentative and delicate relationship develops despite all that conspires against it. We come to understand exactly why Anna comes to care so much about Lanny as her turmoil and trauma unfolds.
This group of characters connect with each other, and we see the loneliness and silence within, the crushed dreams, despair and their hopes for new opportunities to rebuild anew. It is a hard world that demands sacrifices and stoicism. The descriptions of London vividly evoke the 1960s culture and attitudes. A society that is afraid of people with different skin colours, and reacts with hate and anger. The author beautifully delineates the succour the group gain from each other, a respite to counter the daily knockdowns they face. This is a novel to savour. Highly recommended. Thanks to HarperCollins 4th Estate for an ARC.
June 29, 2017
I'm not certain what went wrong with this novel, but it was supremely unsatisfying and i cannot recommend it to anyone. I know. I know. I have friends on this site who believe that there's a reader for every book. I don't.
On the positive side, the author has a writing style that strongly resembles Dominic Smith's in The Last Painting of Sara de Vos.
On the negative side . . so many choices. The marketing pitch would have you believe it's a mystery. There is a missing actor, indeed. Also a police detective. Quite a few characters spend endless days traveling from place to place ostensibly on the search for the missing actor. However. Early on, it becomes clear that Ms. Emmerson has used a potential crime/suicide as a mere device for telling the story she really wants to tell. That story is about identity, reinventing one's self, the immigrant experience in London circa 1965, issues of race and police racism, relationships between parents and teens, and .
One of this novel's failings is that the author doesn't seem to know what to do with her main character, Anna Treadway. It's not that Anna is not likable; it's that her values, choices and motivations -- even her personality -- seem to change from chapter to chapter, without explanation. Clues are dropped that she may not be who she seems. She seems to use her friend Aloysius, a well-read accountant who also is a Caribbean immigrant, as an unpaid escort, even after her actions bring him into contact with the police, who assault him, and potentially threaten his career. One moment she seems interested in him romantically; the next she isn't. Similarly, Anna's actions cause the arrest of a 16-year old daughter of her former employer, a Turkish immigrant cafe owner, but she lacks any remorse and the girl's parents don't blame Anna. She seems like a straight arrow, but then drinks a tremendous amount on at least two occasions late in the book, but there's no explanation for this seeming contradiction. The author didn't seem to know who she wanted Anna to be and so, at the end, she turned out to be a flimsy nothing of a character. Not good. Not evil. Not defined. Not someone to spend 400 pages with.
Another weakness is, I was never clear what the core story of this novel was. It's a debut. What was the story she really wanted to tell? Was it about parents? about immigrants? About racism? About women's limited choices and sexism? Even now, I can't tell you which was the focus and which were peripheral. Moreover, I doubt Ms. Emmerson could tell you. Hence, the problem.
For many readers, finding out that one has selected a book that spends a good 50% of its pages focused on could be more than off-putting and veer toward the disturbing and potentially offensive. I'm not persuaded that hiding the ball on the extent to which this novel dwells on this topic does anyone a favor. Without disclosing it, the author isn't attracting readers who would be interested, and she's expecting readers who aren't anticipating being confronted by it to react positively. Honestly, I wouldn't have read it, had I known.
Finally, the male characters in this novel were poorly written and unbelievable. The dialogue didn't ring true. Their responses and actions didn't make sense in context. They behaved in odd, emasculated ways. Add to that the fact that 3 of those male characters also were non-white and then and I'm uncomfortable that the author was over her skis, as they say, in tackling these difficult topics.
Oh! I almost forgot, the lone police detective's marriage is falling apart before and during the investigation into the missing actor. Why does the author include this plot line in an already crowded group of individual back stories that are entirely unrelated to the missing actor? More importantly, why do we as readers care? Because the author needs a mechanism for setting up one of the most incredible coincidences of all time. One has to entirely suspend disbelief in order to buy into how events play out. There. I've talked myself out of my charitable 3rd star at this point. 2 stars it is.
On the positive side, the author has a writing style that strongly resembles Dominic Smith's in The Last Painting of Sara de Vos.
On the negative side . . so many choices. The marketing pitch would have you believe it's a mystery. There is a missing actor, indeed. Also a police detective. Quite a few characters spend endless days traveling from place to place ostensibly on the search for the missing actor. However. Early on, it becomes clear that Ms. Emmerson has used a potential crime/suicide as a mere device for telling the story she really wants to tell. That story is about identity, reinventing one's self, the immigrant experience in London circa 1965, issues of race and police racism, relationships between parents and teens, and .
One of this novel's failings is that the author doesn't seem to know what to do with her main character, Anna Treadway. It's not that Anna is not likable; it's that her values, choices and motivations -- even her personality -- seem to change from chapter to chapter, without explanation. Clues are dropped that she may not be who she seems. She seems to use her friend Aloysius, a well-read accountant who also is a Caribbean immigrant, as an unpaid escort, even after her actions bring him into contact with the police, who assault him, and potentially threaten his career. One moment she seems interested in him romantically; the next she isn't. Similarly, Anna's actions cause the arrest of a 16-year old daughter of her former employer, a Turkish immigrant cafe owner, but she lacks any remorse and the girl's parents don't blame Anna. She seems like a straight arrow, but then drinks a tremendous amount on at least two occasions late in the book, but there's no explanation for this seeming contradiction. The author didn't seem to know who she wanted Anna to be and so, at the end, she turned out to be a flimsy nothing of a character. Not good. Not evil. Not defined. Not someone to spend 400 pages with.
Another weakness is, I was never clear what the core story of this novel was. It's a debut. What was the story she really wanted to tell? Was it about parents? about immigrants? About racism? About women's limited choices and sexism? Even now, I can't tell you which was the focus and which were peripheral. Moreover, I doubt Ms. Emmerson could tell you. Hence, the problem.
For many readers, finding out that one has selected a book that spends a good 50% of its pages focused on could be more than off-putting and veer toward the disturbing and potentially offensive. I'm not persuaded that hiding the ball on the extent to which this novel dwells on this topic does anyone a favor. Without disclosing it, the author isn't attracting readers who would be interested, and she's expecting readers who aren't anticipating being confronted by it to react positively. Honestly, I wouldn't have read it, had I known.
Finally, the male characters in this novel were poorly written and unbelievable. The dialogue didn't ring true. Their responses and actions didn't make sense in context. They behaved in odd, emasculated ways. Add to that the fact that 3 of those male characters also were non-white and then and I'm uncomfortable that the author was over her skis, as they say, in tackling these difficult topics.
Oh! I almost forgot, the lone police detective's marriage is falling apart before and during the investigation into the missing actor. Why does the author include this plot line in an already crowded group of individual back stories that are entirely unrelated to the missing actor? More importantly, why do we as readers care? Because the author needs a mechanism for setting up one of the most incredible coincidences of all time. One has to entirely suspend disbelief in order to buy into how events play out. There. I've talked myself out of my charitable 3rd star at this point. 2 stars it is.
November 16, 2016
On first reading the description of this novel you would be forgiven for believing it to be a mystery – I certainly did. I think a literary mystery might be a better way of thinking about it. For one, we have no idea for much of the novel that a crime has, or has not, occurred; although this central event is the catalyst for the events that follow.
It is 1965 and Anna Treadway is a dresser at the Galaxy Theatre. She is assisting the star of the play, American actress, Iolanthe Green. While in London, Miss Green is staying at the Savoy and she certainly appears to be successful and happy. However, one evening, she says goodbye to Anna and vanishes… Although vying with news stories about the Moors Murders, the missing actress makes the headlines for a few days. Then, gradually, her story drops out of the news and Anna fears that she has been forgotten.
Unimpressed with the efforts of the police, Anna sets out to discover where Iolanthe has gone. However, she is warned from interfering in the investigation by Detective Sergeant Barnaby Hayes; who has been put in charge of locating Iolanthe Green by a rather disinterested superior office. Hayes is Irish, but in Sixties London, he finds it best to have changed his name from Brennan to Barnaby and do his best to fit in. However, he is tenacious and, like the other characters in this book, he is determined to discover whether Iolanthe has disappeared of her own accord, or whether something has happened to her.
Much of this novel involves fitting in, in a City which is often not welcoming. Many of Anna’s friends, and neighbours, are outsiders in some way; including the owner of the café Ottmar, her landlord Leonard, Det Sergeant Hayes himself, his wife Orla and Aloysius, a West Indian accountant, who becomes embroiled in Anna’s search. This is a novel about living in a city and yet being isolated, about not being accepted and learning to accept yourself, about caring for others. When asked why she is so concerned about Iolanthe, Anna replies that who would care if she went missing – who would notice if she was gone?
This London is a place of casual racism, of loneliness and of people trying to create a new life. My favourite character is the gentle Aloysius, who expected a London of rose gardens and Evelyn Waugh and discovers sly looks, sniggers and violence. This is a contemplative, emotional book, with undercurrents of love, yearning and loss. The letting go of dreams and the loss of hope. Yet, for all that, it is eventually an uplifting, warming read. I would be happy to read more by this author and I would love to see her recreate these characters in a future novel.
It is 1965 and Anna Treadway is a dresser at the Galaxy Theatre. She is assisting the star of the play, American actress, Iolanthe Green. While in London, Miss Green is staying at the Savoy and she certainly appears to be successful and happy. However, one evening, she says goodbye to Anna and vanishes… Although vying with news stories about the Moors Murders, the missing actress makes the headlines for a few days. Then, gradually, her story drops out of the news and Anna fears that she has been forgotten.
Unimpressed with the efforts of the police, Anna sets out to discover where Iolanthe has gone. However, she is warned from interfering in the investigation by Detective Sergeant Barnaby Hayes; who has been put in charge of locating Iolanthe Green by a rather disinterested superior office. Hayes is Irish, but in Sixties London, he finds it best to have changed his name from Brennan to Barnaby and do his best to fit in. However, he is tenacious and, like the other characters in this book, he is determined to discover whether Iolanthe has disappeared of her own accord, or whether something has happened to her.
Much of this novel involves fitting in, in a City which is often not welcoming. Many of Anna’s friends, and neighbours, are outsiders in some way; including the owner of the café Ottmar, her landlord Leonard, Det Sergeant Hayes himself, his wife Orla and Aloysius, a West Indian accountant, who becomes embroiled in Anna’s search. This is a novel about living in a city and yet being isolated, about not being accepted and learning to accept yourself, about caring for others. When asked why she is so concerned about Iolanthe, Anna replies that who would care if she went missing – who would notice if she was gone?
This London is a place of casual racism, of loneliness and of people trying to create a new life. My favourite character is the gentle Aloysius, who expected a London of rose gardens and Evelyn Waugh and discovers sly looks, sniggers and violence. This is a contemplative, emotional book, with undercurrents of love, yearning and loss. The letting go of dreams and the loss of hope. Yet, for all that, it is eventually an uplifting, warming read. I would be happy to read more by this author and I would love to see her recreate these characters in a future novel.
January 3, 2017
In a flat above a Turkish cafe lives Anna Treadway a dresser at the Galaxy Theatre.
When an American actress disappears after an evenings performance at the Galaxy the newspapers speculate about her fate. But as the news grows old and the case gets colder, Anna is the only person determined to find out the truth. The investigation will take Amma to an England she has not yet discovered.
I loved this well written novel set in Soho I 1965.
I would like to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins UK and the author Miranda Emmerson for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
When an American actress disappears after an evenings performance at the Galaxy the newspapers speculate about her fate. But as the news grows old and the case gets colder, Anna is the only person determined to find out the truth. The investigation will take Amma to an England she has not yet discovered.
I loved this well written novel set in Soho I 1965.
I would like to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins UK and the author Miranda Emmerson for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
February 7, 2017
My delight for this year. I didn't know what to expect and I have been wonderfully entertained by this fabulous novel set mainly in London in 1965.
This is a guaranteed best seller if sufficient people get the chance to read this original book that is strong on relationships and character driven.
Miss Tradway is pretty but you wouldn't immediately see her in all her splendour. She is much less than the graduate her parents so desired for her. Escaping to London she has slowly formed a life for herself, initially as a waitress in a cafe run by a Turkish family and then as a dresser at one of the local theatres. Anna has an ability to bring out the best in others, she is a caring person who wins the trust of the leading actress in the latest production 'The Field of Stars'.
When this gentle, spendthift woman goes missing one weekend, her disappearance is only noticed when she fails to meet her stage call for Monday's show.
With the Police losing interest, Anna takes it upon herself to investigate the disappearance meeting many interesting people along the way.
DS Barnaby Hayes inherits the case and he will spare no effort to find Iolanthe Green, an American no-one seems to miss, people other than Anna thought was a fantasist.
In the new police investigation taken on by DS Hayes more background information comes to light and slowly the mystery unfolds, but in truth Miss Green becomes more of a zephyr and more akin to a role played by an actress. Anna knows what she knows about her friend and she worries that she is in trouble and no-one is looking for her.
Great sense of place in sixties Soho as Anna trawls the local clubs and night spots. In one venue she teams up with an accountant, Aloysius, originally from Jamaica.
I loved the use of locations across the city. The sense of travel as Anna & Aloysius have to take buses together.
Although this is not an historical piece as such it is a book rooted in its time. I applaud the gentle way issues like police brutality, racism, immigration, pregnancy outside marriage and homosexuality are touched upon with a lightness of brush that draws the picture where words are not then needed.
So Anna & Aloysius cannot sit together on a bus comfortably; he often has to wait outside and when there together members of the public feel he is exploiting her.
So the story is beautifully crafted as the disappearance is investigated and Anna & Aloysius follow their own leads. Meanwhile time is given to flesh out all the main characters so that no page, parragraph or sentence is wasted.
At its heart this is a story of identity and finding oneself, told through the lives of all the main characters and their families since all have secrets, all are immigrants/outsiders and each in their own way is trying to fit in and not be noticed as different.
As London is proud of its diversity today this clever book looks at a time when things were not so easy for the newcomers based on their names, accents, religion and colour of skin.
I will struggle to find a better book this year that I pick up with such limited knowledge about the work or its author. This is a tour de force, a book that moves you while uplifting you as well.
I cannot recommend it highly enough.
This is a guaranteed best seller if sufficient people get the chance to read this original book that is strong on relationships and character driven.
Miss Tradway is pretty but you wouldn't immediately see her in all her splendour. She is much less than the graduate her parents so desired for her. Escaping to London she has slowly formed a life for herself, initially as a waitress in a cafe run by a Turkish family and then as a dresser at one of the local theatres. Anna has an ability to bring out the best in others, she is a caring person who wins the trust of the leading actress in the latest production 'The Field of Stars'.
When this gentle, spendthift woman goes missing one weekend, her disappearance is only noticed when she fails to meet her stage call for Monday's show.
With the Police losing interest, Anna takes it upon herself to investigate the disappearance meeting many interesting people along the way.
DS Barnaby Hayes inherits the case and he will spare no effort to find Iolanthe Green, an American no-one seems to miss, people other than Anna thought was a fantasist.
In the new police investigation taken on by DS Hayes more background information comes to light and slowly the mystery unfolds, but in truth Miss Green becomes more of a zephyr and more akin to a role played by an actress. Anna knows what she knows about her friend and she worries that she is in trouble and no-one is looking for her.
Great sense of place in sixties Soho as Anna trawls the local clubs and night spots. In one venue she teams up with an accountant, Aloysius, originally from Jamaica.
I loved the use of locations across the city. The sense of travel as Anna & Aloysius have to take buses together.
Although this is not an historical piece as such it is a book rooted in its time. I applaud the gentle way issues like police brutality, racism, immigration, pregnancy outside marriage and homosexuality are touched upon with a lightness of brush that draws the picture where words are not then needed.
So Anna & Aloysius cannot sit together on a bus comfortably; he often has to wait outside and when there together members of the public feel he is exploiting her.
So the story is beautifully crafted as the disappearance is investigated and Anna & Aloysius follow their own leads. Meanwhile time is given to flesh out all the main characters so that no page, parragraph or sentence is wasted.
At its heart this is a story of identity and finding oneself, told through the lives of all the main characters and their families since all have secrets, all are immigrants/outsiders and each in their own way is trying to fit in and not be noticed as different.
As London is proud of its diversity today this clever book looks at a time when things were not so easy for the newcomers based on their names, accents, religion and colour of skin.
I will struggle to find a better book this year that I pick up with such limited knowledge about the work or its author. This is a tour de force, a book that moves you while uplifting you as well.
I cannot recommend it highly enough.
December 5, 2016
I liked this book from the start; there was something about the author’s style which intrigued me and straight away I was interested in the characters. The characters were genuine and well thought out. Emmerson allowed their characteristics to unfold beautifully during the course of the story.
The setting for me was great. I am a Londoner and enjoyed that I recognised many of the locations and the detail given by the author showed she may well have been a Londoner, too, or did a good job in her research.
A good amount of research went into this novel in terms of the setting and time. The backdrop, use of description and dialogue all added to the authenticity of the time. I got a good sense of where I was and became quite absorbed by the 1960s street life, clubs and society of London from the aspect of professionals like the police and journalists to the artists in the theatre, the working class and the immigrants who had come to London during the time.
There was just the right amount of tension and drama to make this book a page turner. I’m a very slow reader and I finished it within a week, which is rare for me.
The book is written in the third person but the point of view is close to the protagonist, Anna, for the most part but we do pop into the mindset of other main characters. At times Emmerson’s leap from one point of view to another within a paragraph had me dizzy and I would have preferred to follow one person’s perspective for at least a chapter rather than chopping and changing like that. That being said it didn’t detract from this being a thoroughly intense and riveting story with many plots and sub-plots that led to an altogether fabulous read.
I would recommend this book and would look out for more from the author in the future.
The setting for me was great. I am a Londoner and enjoyed that I recognised many of the locations and the detail given by the author showed she may well have been a Londoner, too, or did a good job in her research.
A good amount of research went into this novel in terms of the setting and time. The backdrop, use of description and dialogue all added to the authenticity of the time. I got a good sense of where I was and became quite absorbed by the 1960s street life, clubs and society of London from the aspect of professionals like the police and journalists to the artists in the theatre, the working class and the immigrants who had come to London during the time.
There was just the right amount of tension and drama to make this book a page turner. I’m a very slow reader and I finished it within a week, which is rare for me.
The book is written in the third person but the point of view is close to the protagonist, Anna, for the most part but we do pop into the mindset of other main characters. At times Emmerson’s leap from one point of view to another within a paragraph had me dizzy and I would have preferred to follow one person’s perspective for at least a chapter rather than chopping and changing like that. That being said it didn’t detract from this being a thoroughly intense and riveting story with many plots and sub-plots that led to an altogether fabulous read.
I would recommend this book and would look out for more from the author in the future.
March 3, 2024
4.5 stars.
This book was way more than I was expecting. More than just a mystery, this is a book with a diverse cast that are fun to get to know, with plots that interweave fluidly. Think of it as an anti-Brexit book: in the city of London people come together from all walks of life to try to save the day. It deals with abortion, race and most importantly finding your place in the world. It's also excellently written, not that surprising in retrospect given the author is a scriptwriter. The characters are fully realised, and the dialogue sharp. Highly enjoyable, do recommend.
This book was way more than I was expecting. More than just a mystery, this is a book with a diverse cast that are fun to get to know, with plots that interweave fluidly. Think of it as an anti-Brexit book: in the city of London people come together from all walks of life to try to save the day. It deals with abortion, race and most importantly finding your place in the world. It's also excellently written, not that surprising in retrospect given the author is a scriptwriter. The characters are fully realised, and the dialogue sharp. Highly enjoyable, do recommend.
November 9, 2016
I was given an advanced reading copy of this book in return for a fair and honest review.
Anna Treadway is a dresser at the Galaxy, a small London theatre. Anna’s current ‘charge’ is the American actress Iolanthe Green. One evening after a performance, Iolanthe and Anna exchanged parting pleasantries saying that they would see each other again on Monday but after that Anna never saw the actress again.
Frustrated with the police’s lack of interest in the case, Anna takes it upon herself to do some investigating herself. Having led a fairly sheltered life, Anna finds that the glossy ‘swinging sixties’ appearance London gives to the outside world has another side, a dark side that has jazz clubs, backstreet doctors and institutionalised racism – certainly not the London that is portrayed to the outside world.
The story had me hooked right from the very start. The story is not only a mystery but in my opinion a story about self – discovery and that things and people are not always what they seem. The theme of re-invention is important and sometimes people need to re-invent themselves in order to move on and escape their past. Some part of the books shocked me – particularly the racism and the stigma of single parenthood, seeing that the book was set only 50 years ago. Other parts of the book will moved me and other parts will stay with me for a long time.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to other readers particularly those who enjoyed novels such as ‘ Britt Marie was here’, ‘ The love song of Miss Queenie Hennessey’ and ‘ The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’.
Anna Treadway is a dresser at the Galaxy, a small London theatre. Anna’s current ‘charge’ is the American actress Iolanthe Green. One evening after a performance, Iolanthe and Anna exchanged parting pleasantries saying that they would see each other again on Monday but after that Anna never saw the actress again.
Frustrated with the police’s lack of interest in the case, Anna takes it upon herself to do some investigating herself. Having led a fairly sheltered life, Anna finds that the glossy ‘swinging sixties’ appearance London gives to the outside world has another side, a dark side that has jazz clubs, backstreet doctors and institutionalised racism – certainly not the London that is portrayed to the outside world.
The story had me hooked right from the very start. The story is not only a mystery but in my opinion a story about self – discovery and that things and people are not always what they seem. The theme of re-invention is important and sometimes people need to re-invent themselves in order to move on and escape their past. Some part of the books shocked me – particularly the racism and the stigma of single parenthood, seeing that the book was set only 50 years ago. Other parts of the book will moved me and other parts will stay with me for a long time.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to other readers particularly those who enjoyed novels such as ‘ Britt Marie was here’, ‘ The love song of Miss Queenie Hennessey’ and ‘ The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’.
February 14, 2017
Extraordinarily frustrating book. Hard work mostly. I felt driven to know the end, and found myself checking "how many pages are left" occasionally.
The prose is quite leaden in the first pages (new author, forgiven) and then picks up into a comfortable pace, mostly literate and of mild interest. A mystery is presented, but it is only a McGuffin for most of the book, and only becomes prominent suddenly towards the end.
There are, however, moments of true brilliance, especially the scene in the Roaring Twenties nightclub. My update at that point: "Wow. Spectacular prose for the encounter in "The Roaring Twenties " night club! Like a rush to the head and body, a hot flash. Fantastic!"
There are some very sweet encounters, but there is far too much confusion of unanchored plot lines. Frequent flashbacks intermingled for all the characters, without discipline, disrupt the flow of the book and confuses the reader.
Anna is interesting and sympathetic, as are several other characters. Some of their lives and challenges are expected, some are tragic, and some are left frustratingly unresolved at the end.
And what is the last page about, December 17th?
All-in-all, I would say that Ms Emmerson has good potential as an author, but needs a far stronger editor and guidance if she is to achieve success.
(I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley in return for this honest review)
The prose is quite leaden in the first pages (new author, forgiven) and then picks up into a comfortable pace, mostly literate and of mild interest. A mystery is presented, but it is only a McGuffin for most of the book, and only becomes prominent suddenly towards the end.
There are, however, moments of true brilliance, especially the scene in the Roaring Twenties nightclub. My update at that point: "Wow. Spectacular prose for the encounter in "The Roaring Twenties " night club! Like a rush to the head and body, a hot flash. Fantastic!"
There are some very sweet encounters, but there is far too much confusion of unanchored plot lines. Frequent flashbacks intermingled for all the characters, without discipline, disrupt the flow of the book and confuses the reader.
Anna is interesting and sympathetic, as are several other characters. Some of their lives and challenges are expected, some are tragic, and some are left frustratingly unresolved at the end.
And what is the last page about, December 17th?
All-in-all, I would say that Ms Emmerson has good potential as an author, but needs a far stronger editor and guidance if she is to achieve success.
(I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley in return for this honest review)
February 5, 2017
I started reading this book a while ago and couldn't really get into it but I picked it up again the other day and determined to read it. My perseverance was rewarded and I enjoyed it. It isn't really a crime novel - though there is a mystery to be solved and a detective is one of the main characters. Anna Treadway works as a dresser at the Galaxy Theatre where Iolanthe Green is performing in The Field of Stars. Then one night the actress walks out of the theatre and disappears.
At first this makes headline news but then the disappearance is pushed off the front page of the newspapers by the activities of the Moors Murderers - this is 1965. No one seems to care what has happened to Iolanthe except Anna and Detective Sergeant Barney Hayes. Then a Jamaican accountant Anna meets while she is searching for Iolanthe joins the hunt. This will lead them to all sorts of places and difficult situations.
The book paints an interesting picture of London in the mid sixties. There is racism, police brutality and illegal abortions but there is also Carnaby Street and black and white fashions. All the main characters are to a certain extent misfits - even Anna - who has had a much more chequered life than is at first revealed. I found this a fascinating read and I got totally involved with the characters and I wanted things to work out for them. The book is amusing and poignant by turns and it is one of those books which doesn't really fit into any particular genre.
At first this makes headline news but then the disappearance is pushed off the front page of the newspapers by the activities of the Moors Murderers - this is 1965. No one seems to care what has happened to Iolanthe except Anna and Detective Sergeant Barney Hayes. Then a Jamaican accountant Anna meets while she is searching for Iolanthe joins the hunt. This will lead them to all sorts of places and difficult situations.
The book paints an interesting picture of London in the mid sixties. There is racism, police brutality and illegal abortions but there is also Carnaby Street and black and white fashions. All the main characters are to a certain extent misfits - even Anna - who has had a much more chequered life than is at first revealed. I found this a fascinating read and I got totally involved with the characters and I wanted things to work out for them. The book is amusing and poignant by turns and it is one of those books which doesn't really fit into any particular genre.
April 14, 2017
While it took me a little while to get into this story, by halfway through the book I couldn't put the book down. It wasn't what I expected, but that's okay because Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is more literary and substantial than I thought it would be. It sounds like a mystery, and along the way a lot is revealed, but it’s more about the people in the story rather than a crime that needs solving. Characters are one of its strengths and they include Anna with her secrets, an Irish police officer trying to appear British and his unhappy wife, the Turkish family who run the restaurant Anna lives above, and a black Jamaican accountant who wants to fit in. It’s set in 1965 so there are references to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Carnaby Street, but it’s not a lighthearted swinging sixties story. Instead it explores themes like racism, classism, immigration, and repression. The writing is atmospheric and full of mood-setting description that's lush and gritty, heartwarming and heartbreaking.
I read an advanced review copy of this book supplied to me at no cost and with no obligation by the publisher. Review opinions are mine.
I read an advanced review copy of this book supplied to me at no cost and with no obligation by the publisher. Review opinions are mine.
February 7, 2017
Although this book has a lot going for it, it’s not the upbeat mystery I was hoping for. 3/5 stars.
This review was originally posted on my book blog.
There are many things to like about Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars. I think this is the first story I’ve read which is set in 1960s’ London, a location which was brilliantly rendered, interesting and refreshing.
The diversity of the characters is also impressive. Aloysius, a Jamaican accountant, quickly became my favourite. The story moves at a good pace and there’s always something happening, mostly because the main characters are roving all over London and then southern England in search of the missing Iolanthe.
The story is told in close third person, switching between various characters’ POVs. All these viewpoints are well-realised, but I didn’t get enough time with any one character before the POV switched to another. Unfortunately this meant I failed to connect properly with any of them and so wasn’t that engaged in their various missions. The disconnect I felt towards the characters’ present goals was compounded by their flitting between the present and reminiscing about past events.
From the book cover and blurb, I was expecting a far more upbeat read: an exciting, lighthearted mystery with a sprinkling of romance. What I got was a meditation on displacement, the experience of being foreign and disadvantaged, and the evils of racism, misogyny and xenophobia. I think if I’d gone into the book expecting the heavier subject matter, I might have had a more positive experience.
Overall: an interesting and ambitious book, but probably best to know exactly what you’re getting into before you dive into the story.
Thank you to HarperCollins UK, 4th Estate and NetGalley for giving me an e-copy of this book. This review is my unbiased, honest opinion.
This review was originally posted on my book blog.
There are many things to like about Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars. I think this is the first story I’ve read which is set in 1960s’ London, a location which was brilliantly rendered, interesting and refreshing.
The diversity of the characters is also impressive. Aloysius, a Jamaican accountant, quickly became my favourite. The story moves at a good pace and there’s always something happening, mostly because the main characters are roving all over London and then southern England in search of the missing Iolanthe.
The story is told in close third person, switching between various characters’ POVs. All these viewpoints are well-realised, but I didn’t get enough time with any one character before the POV switched to another. Unfortunately this meant I failed to connect properly with any of them and so wasn’t that engaged in their various missions. The disconnect I felt towards the characters’ present goals was compounded by their flitting between the present and reminiscing about past events.
From the book cover and blurb, I was expecting a far more upbeat read: an exciting, lighthearted mystery with a sprinkling of romance. What I got was a meditation on displacement, the experience of being foreign and disadvantaged, and the evils of racism, misogyny and xenophobia. I think if I’d gone into the book expecting the heavier subject matter, I might have had a more positive experience.
Overall: an interesting and ambitious book, but probably best to know exactly what you’re getting into before you dive into the story.
Thank you to HarperCollins UK, 4th Estate and NetGalley for giving me an e-copy of this book. This review is my unbiased, honest opinion.
February 6, 2018
“She honestly could not tell if she loved London or loathed it. For she could not decide for herself what London was at all.”
This book was amazing!!!!I loved it so much but sadly it is so underrated.This book had my attention from the first page...
It's all about an actress, Iolanthe Green who disappears after a show.Soon the case will lose its buzz and the only the person who is determined to find her is her dresser, Anna Treadway.The whole story is set in London 1965.
Doesn't that just give you all the chills for an excellent historical fiction?It shows an extremely different perspective on that era.The Swinging Sixties was an age of creativity filled with experimentation and expression.This novel rather shows a dark side of the colorful environment
The story is filled with mysterious questions which are prevalent even today.And hat's off to Miranda Emmerson for creating this amazing protagonist Miss Treadway.I am sure she is someone to be remembered.Aloysius was the perfect gentleman and I was in love reading about him.
This book makes you think.It has a dark mystery, a passionate romance and excellent portrayal of racism and discrimination.
5/5 stars!!
This book was amazing!!!!I loved it so much but sadly it is so underrated.This book had my attention from the first page...
It's all about an actress, Iolanthe Green who disappears after a show.Soon the case will lose its buzz and the only the person who is determined to find her is her dresser, Anna Treadway.The whole story is set in London 1965.
Doesn't that just give you all the chills for an excellent historical fiction?It shows an extremely different perspective on that era.The Swinging Sixties was an age of creativity filled with experimentation and expression.This novel rather shows a dark side of the colorful environment
The story is filled with mysterious questions which are prevalent even today.And hat's off to Miranda Emmerson for creating this amazing protagonist Miss Treadway.I am sure she is someone to be remembered.Aloysius was the perfect gentleman and I was in love reading about him.
This book makes you think.It has a dark mystery, a passionate romance and excellent portrayal of racism and discrimination.
5/5 stars!!
November 6, 2016
I received an advance copy of this book from 4th Estate for an honest review. So here is my honest but admittedly badly written review...
Miss Treadway & the field of Stars is a rather apt novel to be reading in Brexit Britain at the moment. As the baby boomer generation would like to "take back control" and take us back to a Britain which had sovereignty and this is pretty much set in those "halcyon" days. London in the mid sixties was seen as a cauldron of culture, fashion and music but this was merely a thin facade. Beneath the dressing, there was the old seething hatreds of race and difference and this novel sets out how those days were. This a novel of race, identity and immigration portraying the sixties with the grittiness that it deserves. I'd whole heartedly recommend this novel as it has an excellent trick of narrating the other side of sixties London and questioning the notion of Englishness. All the characters are engaging and struggling with their individual senses of self and what it is to be English, what it is to be of race or a minority whether it be colour or religion or sex, all while searching for a missing actress - Miss Iolanthe Green.
Miss Treadway & the field of Stars is a rather apt novel to be reading in Brexit Britain at the moment. As the baby boomer generation would like to "take back control" and take us back to a Britain which had sovereignty and this is pretty much set in those "halcyon" days. London in the mid sixties was seen as a cauldron of culture, fashion and music but this was merely a thin facade. Beneath the dressing, there was the old seething hatreds of race and difference and this novel sets out how those days were. This a novel of race, identity and immigration portraying the sixties with the grittiness that it deserves. I'd whole heartedly recommend this novel as it has an excellent trick of narrating the other side of sixties London and questioning the notion of Englishness. All the characters are engaging and struggling with their individual senses of self and what it is to be English, what it is to be of race or a minority whether it be colour or religion or sex, all while searching for a missing actress - Miss Iolanthe Green.
February 2, 2017
Visit the locations at the Literary Travel Agency Miss Treadway's London
A real gem and hidden find of a novel for I picked this up expecting one thing and totally got another,more brilliant read!
Full review to come in January but have to say this is a very cinematic read - and quite a novel!. Never before have the swinging sixties been so clearly and cleverly evoked. I’m not old enough to have lived through this time but now I genuinely feel I have! It read like memories, like a faded photo of another time. The nuances and the feel for the detail, the delight and the shadows are just so brilliantly woven into a mystery of a novel.
There's so much more to this that the blurb suggests and the delight is finding it out for yourself.
A real gem and hidden find of a novel for I picked this up expecting one thing and totally got another,more brilliant read!
Full review to come in January but have to say this is a very cinematic read - and quite a novel!. Never before have the swinging sixties been so clearly and cleverly evoked. I’m not old enough to have lived through this time but now I genuinely feel I have! It read like memories, like a faded photo of another time. The nuances and the feel for the detail, the delight and the shadows are just so brilliantly woven into a mystery of a novel.
There's so much more to this that the blurb suggests and the delight is finding it out for yourself.
March 23, 2017
What is this about?: It is on the surface, about the search for Iolanthe Green, an actress who disappears during her play’s run in London. Anna, who is her costumer and friend, goes on a search for her.
What else is this about?: It’s about characters who are “other”: whether they are a woman, Black, Irish or Muslim. How do they fit into London in 1965. What do they do to do so?
Despite the lyrical title and the promise of a mystery, Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is hardly a conventional read.
Sure, there’s a mystery, but London and the characters that inhabit it and cross Anna’s path as she searches for Iolanthe are the heart of this story. This is a story about what people do to fit in instead of embracing who they are and standing out – but that sentiment is from someone who can look back at a time they’ve never lived in… and even as I write that, it occurs to me: isn’t that what people are still trying to do today?
Secrets
Everyone has their secrets, some more shocking than others. But, Emmerson’s writing is restrained and focused so that their secrets are not sensationalised – instead, they appear within the narrative making you go “oh” and forcing you to readjust your thinking about the characters. I think I like that. But I also think I would have liked to have known Anna and some other characters more. Perhaps, this could have done with a smaller cast of characters, with more depth to each than they currently have.
I think this is more a literary story than a mystery, with slower pacing that doesn’t lend itself to the tension you’d expect to find in a mystery. Or to be more accurate, that I want tend to lean towards in my reading. But, it is a book that I found myself contemplative about. There’s a rich cast of characters here, and Emmerson builds a complicated, diverse world around them.
What else is this about?: It’s about characters who are “other”: whether they are a woman, Black, Irish or Muslim. How do they fit into London in 1965. What do they do to do so?
Despite the lyrical title and the promise of a mystery, Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is hardly a conventional read.
Sure, there’s a mystery, but London and the characters that inhabit it and cross Anna’s path as she searches for Iolanthe are the heart of this story. This is a story about what people do to fit in instead of embracing who they are and standing out – but that sentiment is from someone who can look back at a time they’ve never lived in… and even as I write that, it occurs to me: isn’t that what people are still trying to do today?
Secrets
Everyone has their secrets, some more shocking than others. But, Emmerson’s writing is restrained and focused so that their secrets are not sensationalised – instead, they appear within the narrative making you go “oh” and forcing you to readjust your thinking about the characters. I think I like that. But I also think I would have liked to have known Anna and some other characters more. Perhaps, this could have done with a smaller cast of characters, with more depth to each than they currently have.
I think this is more a literary story than a mystery, with slower pacing that doesn’t lend itself to the tension you’d expect to find in a mystery. Or to be more accurate, that I want tend to lean towards in my reading. But, it is a book that I found myself contemplative about. There’s a rich cast of characters here, and Emmerson builds a complicated, diverse world around them.
June 9, 2017
Miss Treadway And The Field Of Stars
By
Miranda Emerson
What it's all about...
So what we have here in this gem of a book is a missing person. Iolanthe Green is not a famous movie star but she is well known in her little part of the London theatre. One evening she walks out of the theatre door and becomes one of the missing. No clues...no reasons...just vanishes into the night. How many secrets is she keeping?
Why I wanted to read it...
So...the part of this book that was fascinating to me was the little band of weird "warriors" that are determined to find out what happened to Iolanthe. We have Anna her dresser at the theatre, an Irish policeman, a coffee house owner, his daughter, and finally an accountant. They sort of band together to solve this very intriguing mystery.
What made me truly enjoy this book...
I enjoyed this book because of these characters...they were quirky, lively, unique and fascinating.
Why you should read it, too...
Readers who love sort of cozy yet odd English mysteries should enjoy this book. I don't like to share too much of what happens in a mystery. Just know that this one was fun, easy to read and really hard to put down. It was different and that just captured my interest more and more!
By
Miranda Emerson
What it's all about...
So what we have here in this gem of a book is a missing person. Iolanthe Green is not a famous movie star but she is well known in her little part of the London theatre. One evening she walks out of the theatre door and becomes one of the missing. No clues...no reasons...just vanishes into the night. How many secrets is she keeping?
Why I wanted to read it...
So...the part of this book that was fascinating to me was the little band of weird "warriors" that are determined to find out what happened to Iolanthe. We have Anna her dresser at the theatre, an Irish policeman, a coffee house owner, his daughter, and finally an accountant. They sort of band together to solve this very intriguing mystery.
What made me truly enjoy this book...
I enjoyed this book because of these characters...they were quirky, lively, unique and fascinating.
Why you should read it, too...
Readers who love sort of cozy yet odd English mysteries should enjoy this book. I don't like to share too much of what happens in a mystery. Just know that this one was fun, easy to read and really hard to put down. It was different and that just captured my interest more and more!
Read
July 13, 2017I don't know why, but I kind of thought that the United States had a lock on prejudice in the 1960's. Or perhaps I just never pictured London having a lot of racial tension at the time. When I stop to think about the trouble with Ireland and British colonialism, this seems absurd- but I must confess, that prior to this book, London in the 60's was mini skirts, experimental drugs and the Beatles stylishly crossing the street or off to India. Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars opened my eyes to a whole other world- how London was at the time for young working women and for immigrants. Luckily, all that information is embedded in a really solid story.
This is a literary mystery- the main characters all have complicated inner thought lives and areas of fragility. Both thought provoking and satisfying, it's hard to believe this is a debut novel.
This is a literary mystery- the main characters all have complicated inner thought lives and areas of fragility. Both thought provoking and satisfying, it's hard to believe this is a debut novel.
February 15, 2017
Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is as English a book as you can find. From the darling title to the story of ordinary people going to extraordinary lengths out of a sense of duty to each other and to their ideals, it is a very English book, rich in English culture and values. Yet, every character in the book is an immigrant, even the unstoppable Miss Treadway. This may be Miranda Emmerson’s first novel, but she writes with the confidence and sure-footedness of long experience.
Anna Treadway is a dresser for the fabulous American actress, Iolanthe Green, who mysteriously disappeared one night, walking back to her hotel from the theater. Anna, who moved to London from Wales, is determined to find her, believing the police are simply not doing enough. She lives above a cafe run by Ottmar, an immigrant from Turkey. She had worked at the cafe when she first came to London and Ottmar has a soft spot in his heart for her. On the part of the police, Barnaby Hayes, an immigrant from Ireland, is working harder than Anna supposes, his devotion to his work supplanting his devotion to his wife and daughter. In her investigations, Anna meets Aloysius, an immigrant from Jamaica, whose aspirations are as country-home British as they come.
I loved Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars but probably not for obvious reasons. The mystery is more a game of tag and there is an extraordinary number of people being in the same place at the same time and despite Miss Treadway and Inspector Hayes worries about “why women disappear” there is not much suspense or tension in the mystery. But then, I am not convinced that the mystery is the point of this novel at all.
Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is about identity and belonging. It is about how people reinvent themselves. It’s no spoiler to inform you that nearly every character has two names. There’s Barnaby (Brennan), Iolanthe (Yolanda), and Aloysius (Louis) and even Miss Treadway has a surprise or two, or three. This is a story of immigrants assimilating. When the Jamaica-born Aloysius is brutalized by racist police, it does not matter than he is a “suit-wearing, tea-drinking, Financial Times and Evelyn Waugh reading man of London town.” He is black and though “the man in his head had become far whiter” that is not the man the police see.
Anna Treadway finds her own identity in question, her faith in institutions crumbling in the face of injustice. Emmerson described it as feeling as though “somehow the institutions belonged to her. She had a sense of ownership” of the social, political, legal institutions of the country. She also wrote about Anna wondering how Aloysius perceived her skin color, was it as evident to him as his was to her or did her pale complexion signify “the blankness of a slate?” The phrase “white privilege” raises so many hackles, but perhaps Emmerson’s descriptions, the sense of ownership of the kingdom’s institutions, the blankness of the slate–a slate clear of negative stereotypes in the minds of police, for example. It was heartening to see new metaphors for privilege that perhaps are more effective because they don’t trigger defensiveness so quickly.
The characters in Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars are interesting, complex, and everything that matters to the story. There’s a bit of unlikely coincidence, but it is such perfect coincidence, that I embrace it all.
Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars will be released February 27, 2017. I received an advance e-galley from the publisher through Edelweiss.
★★★★★
http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpres...
Anna Treadway is a dresser for the fabulous American actress, Iolanthe Green, who mysteriously disappeared one night, walking back to her hotel from the theater. Anna, who moved to London from Wales, is determined to find her, believing the police are simply not doing enough. She lives above a cafe run by Ottmar, an immigrant from Turkey. She had worked at the cafe when she first came to London and Ottmar has a soft spot in his heart for her. On the part of the police, Barnaby Hayes, an immigrant from Ireland, is working harder than Anna supposes, his devotion to his work supplanting his devotion to his wife and daughter. In her investigations, Anna meets Aloysius, an immigrant from Jamaica, whose aspirations are as country-home British as they come.
I loved Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars but probably not for obvious reasons. The mystery is more a game of tag and there is an extraordinary number of people being in the same place at the same time and despite Miss Treadway and Inspector Hayes worries about “why women disappear” there is not much suspense or tension in the mystery. But then, I am not convinced that the mystery is the point of this novel at all.
Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is about identity and belonging. It is about how people reinvent themselves. It’s no spoiler to inform you that nearly every character has two names. There’s Barnaby (Brennan), Iolanthe (Yolanda), and Aloysius (Louis) and even Miss Treadway has a surprise or two, or three. This is a story of immigrants assimilating. When the Jamaica-born Aloysius is brutalized by racist police, it does not matter than he is a “suit-wearing, tea-drinking, Financial Times and Evelyn Waugh reading man of London town.” He is black and though “the man in his head had become far whiter” that is not the man the police see.
Anna Treadway finds her own identity in question, her faith in institutions crumbling in the face of injustice. Emmerson described it as feeling as though “somehow the institutions belonged to her. She had a sense of ownership” of the social, political, legal institutions of the country. She also wrote about Anna wondering how Aloysius perceived her skin color, was it as evident to him as his was to her or did her pale complexion signify “the blankness of a slate?” The phrase “white privilege” raises so many hackles, but perhaps Emmerson’s descriptions, the sense of ownership of the kingdom’s institutions, the blankness of the slate–a slate clear of negative stereotypes in the minds of police, for example. It was heartening to see new metaphors for privilege that perhaps are more effective because they don’t trigger defensiveness so quickly.
The characters in Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars are interesting, complex, and everything that matters to the story. There’s a bit of unlikely coincidence, but it is such perfect coincidence, that I embrace it all.
Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars will be released February 27, 2017. I received an advance e-galley from the publisher through Edelweiss.
★★★★★
http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpres...
November 19, 2016
A fantastic read that both highlights prejudice of the past and how it may or may not be different today, and paint an accurate and skilled picture of London as a city.
I got Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars from a giveaway on here, and thought that the 1960s London setting and the premise of two female main characters sounded interesting. As it suggested, both Anna and Iolanthe are intriguing characters, from the initial pages which show them just before Iolanthe goes missing until the end.
The supporting characters are vital to this novel, with a wide range of different people with different backgrounds and viewpoints showing the diversity of the city and the extent of prejudice and injustice that can occur in different ways. The problems facing Aloysius, Ottmar, Leonard, and the Hayes family are all very different, but the way in which Emmerson weaves their stories into the plot highlights how, just like the main two characters, these people are trying to find their place or keep their place in their world and in this society, even when people don't want them to. Their situations are easily comparable to modern events and attitudes, with readers left with facing the fact that the intolerance shown by characters in the novel is not so different today in many ways.
The depiction of London in the novel was particularly notable, presented as a city both vibrant and metropolitan, full of opportunity and different people and culture, and full of darkness and danger, with racism and brutality lurking. At one point Anna does not know if she loves or hates London, which felt to me like a very good description of the city, a place which can feel very varied depending on circumstance and location. As someone who has lived in London (and worked in a theatre there), Emmerson's presentation of the city and how people see it felt relatable, with characters looking for hope and freedom and escape and money within one city, full of flaws but also opportunity.
The representation of the media, through the newspaper articles and how the press's attention is easily diverted by more shocking news and murder, felt like a sharp comment on how the media's techniques and focus are not particularly different these days, though they may have more technology at their disposal. Though the idea of fame was not particularly focused on, the way in which a celebrity may create different versions of themselves, and how this could be similar to other people doing the same, was an interesting point in the book.
The plot is fairly easy to work out once details have been revealed and characters introduced, but the structure allows for slow revelations, meaning that the mystery is not instantly solved. The characters give the plot its real life, as they are fleshed out and believably flawed and secretive. The writing style makes the book easy to get into and enjoyable to read, with moments of great description, particularly of location.
Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is a very good book for anyone who enjoys period-set mysteries that allow you to think about both that time and the present. Fans of London period TV shows such as The Hour will enjoy this book too, with its well-written characters and look at the darker sides of post-war society.
I got Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars from a giveaway on here, and thought that the 1960s London setting and the premise of two female main characters sounded interesting. As it suggested, both Anna and Iolanthe are intriguing characters, from the initial pages which show them just before Iolanthe goes missing until the end.
The supporting characters are vital to this novel, with a wide range of different people with different backgrounds and viewpoints showing the diversity of the city and the extent of prejudice and injustice that can occur in different ways. The problems facing Aloysius, Ottmar, Leonard, and the Hayes family are all very different, but the way in which Emmerson weaves their stories into the plot highlights how, just like the main two characters, these people are trying to find their place or keep their place in their world and in this society, even when people don't want them to. Their situations are easily comparable to modern events and attitudes, with readers left with facing the fact that the intolerance shown by characters in the novel is not so different today in many ways.
The depiction of London in the novel was particularly notable, presented as a city both vibrant and metropolitan, full of opportunity and different people and culture, and full of darkness and danger, with racism and brutality lurking. At one point Anna does not know if she loves or hates London, which felt to me like a very good description of the city, a place which can feel very varied depending on circumstance and location. As someone who has lived in London (and worked in a theatre there), Emmerson's presentation of the city and how people see it felt relatable, with characters looking for hope and freedom and escape and money within one city, full of flaws but also opportunity.
The representation of the media, through the newspaper articles and how the press's attention is easily diverted by more shocking news and murder, felt like a sharp comment on how the media's techniques and focus are not particularly different these days, though they may have more technology at their disposal. Though the idea of fame was not particularly focused on, the way in which a celebrity may create different versions of themselves, and how this could be similar to other people doing the same, was an interesting point in the book.
The plot is fairly easy to work out once details have been revealed and characters introduced, but the structure allows for slow revelations, meaning that the mystery is not instantly solved. The characters give the plot its real life, as they are fleshed out and believably flawed and secretive. The writing style makes the book easy to get into and enjoyable to read, with moments of great description, particularly of location.
Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is a very good book for anyone who enjoys period-set mysteries that allow you to think about both that time and the present. Fans of London period TV shows such as The Hour will enjoy this book too, with its well-written characters and look at the darker sides of post-war society.
March 27, 2017
A very meaningful and enjoyable novel that at first seems like a straightforward detective mystery but you realize it's less a crime story and more of a exploration of the immigrant experience.
The story was so well written that I couldn't believe Miranda Emerson was a first time novelist. I can't wait to see what the author has in store for her next novel.
The story was so well written that I couldn't believe Miranda Emerson was a first time novelist. I can't wait to see what the author has in store for her next novel.
July 17, 2018
When I first caught sight of ‘Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars’ I saw so much promise, and when I started to read I found much more than I had expected. I found a mystery, a travelogue, a historical drama, and captivating human stories; and I found a colourful portrait mid-sixties London, that cleverly captured both the light and the shade of that particular time and place.
Anna Treadway was working-class and serious-minded; and she saw London as the centre of the universe, a place where it didn’t matter what her background and her history, where she could be accepted for what was and get on with living her life.
She loved the home she found in the big city, and the author made it easy for me to understand why, and she painted wonderful pictures of Anna’s London:
“Anna Treadway lived on Neal Street in a tiny two-bed flat above a Turkish café. She went to bed each night smelling cumin, lamb and lemons, listening to the jazz refrain from Ottmar’s radio below. She woke to the rumble and cry of the marketmen surging below her window and to the sharp, pungent smell of vegetables beginning to decay.
When she went to buy fruit at seven o’clock it took her past the Punjab India restaurant. Past the emerald green face of Ellen Keeley the barrow maker. Past the dirty oxblood tiles of the tube station where Neal Street ended and James Street began. Past Floral Street where the market boys drank their wages away and down, down, down to the Garden. Covent Garden: once the convent garden. Now so full of sin and earth and humanity. Still a garden really, after all these years.”
Though she hadn’t been drawn to the bright lights, Anna had found work in the theatre. She was dresser a rising star, the glamorous American actress Iolanthe Green, a rising star. A friendship grows between the two, very different young women.
Until the Monday when Lanny didn’t appear.
There could have been a simple answer but there wasn’t.
The next day all of the newspapers were abuzz with the mystery of the missing star. Theories were propounded. Concerns were raised. But it wasn’t long before there was no more news, the story slipped out of the headlines, and Anna began to worry that her friend had been forgotten.
One newspaper had asked asks why so much attention was being paid to one wealthy actress when in the past week alone seventy ordinary people have gone missing without any great fanfare at all. The police inspector in charge of the case agreed. He had more than enough work to do, why should he worry about an actress who had no ties, who had quite possibly decided to move on of her own accord?
Unimpressed with the efforts of the police, Anna sets out to discover what had happened to her friend. Detective Sergeant Barnaby Hayes, the one officer left on the case, warned her off. He was Irish, but he had made the decision to his name from Brennan to Barnaby so that he could fit into his new job and his new life in London; and he hoped that discovering whether Iolanthe has disappeared of her own accord, or whether something has happened to her, would impress his colleagues and his superiors.
Anna took no notice of his warning, she went on looking for Lanny, and she met a young man who was happy to help her. Aloysius was an accountant, a quiet and gentle man, an ardent Anglophile; and he was still coming to terms with the knowledge that his degree from the University of the West Indies wouldn’t gain him entry to exclusive gentlemen’s clubs or the city’s best restaurants, that the England he lived in had little in common with the England he had read about in books.
The mystery is cleverly constructed, and it spins around rich human stories.
Barnaby, his wife Orla and their daughter, Gracie had very different feeling about life in the big city. Turkish café owner Ottamar worked hard for his family and worried about his daughter, Samira, who was growing up and away from him. Anna’s landlord Leonard was gay in a world where that wasn’t legal. Aloysius faced appalling racism and police brutality, and yet he continued to be polite and respectful.
I was very taken with them all.
I saw that they were all outsiders, they had all come to London from somewhere else; and that some of them were carrying secrets, some of them were running away from something, and that some of them were chasing dreams and ambitions. Their different stories and characters developed nicely as the mystery unravelled.
I came to realise why finding Lanny was so very important to Anna.
My only real issues were that Lanny’s backstory was more complex than it needed to be, and that while the final act of worked emotionally it was little contrived.
The time and place are very well evoked, and though some of the language and many of the attitudes shocked me I couldn’t doubt that they were authentic.
I loved the human drama, I was intrigued by the mystery; and I have to say that this is a very accomplished first novel and that I am very interested to read whatever Miranda Emmerson writes next.
Anna Treadway was working-class and serious-minded; and she saw London as the centre of the universe, a place where it didn’t matter what her background and her history, where she could be accepted for what was and get on with living her life.
She loved the home she found in the big city, and the author made it easy for me to understand why, and she painted wonderful pictures of Anna’s London:
“Anna Treadway lived on Neal Street in a tiny two-bed flat above a Turkish café. She went to bed each night smelling cumin, lamb and lemons, listening to the jazz refrain from Ottmar’s radio below. She woke to the rumble and cry of the marketmen surging below her window and to the sharp, pungent smell of vegetables beginning to decay.
When she went to buy fruit at seven o’clock it took her past the Punjab India restaurant. Past the emerald green face of Ellen Keeley the barrow maker. Past the dirty oxblood tiles of the tube station where Neal Street ended and James Street began. Past Floral Street where the market boys drank their wages away and down, down, down to the Garden. Covent Garden: once the convent garden. Now so full of sin and earth and humanity. Still a garden really, after all these years.”
Though she hadn’t been drawn to the bright lights, Anna had found work in the theatre. She was dresser a rising star, the glamorous American actress Iolanthe Green, a rising star. A friendship grows between the two, very different young women.
Until the Monday when Lanny didn’t appear.
There could have been a simple answer but there wasn’t.
The next day all of the newspapers were abuzz with the mystery of the missing star. Theories were propounded. Concerns were raised. But it wasn’t long before there was no more news, the story slipped out of the headlines, and Anna began to worry that her friend had been forgotten.
One newspaper had asked asks why so much attention was being paid to one wealthy actress when in the past week alone seventy ordinary people have gone missing without any great fanfare at all. The police inspector in charge of the case agreed. He had more than enough work to do, why should he worry about an actress who had no ties, who had quite possibly decided to move on of her own accord?
Unimpressed with the efforts of the police, Anna sets out to discover what had happened to her friend. Detective Sergeant Barnaby Hayes, the one officer left on the case, warned her off. He was Irish, but he had made the decision to his name from Brennan to Barnaby so that he could fit into his new job and his new life in London; and he hoped that discovering whether Iolanthe has disappeared of her own accord, or whether something has happened to her, would impress his colleagues and his superiors.
Anna took no notice of his warning, she went on looking for Lanny, and she met a young man who was happy to help her. Aloysius was an accountant, a quiet and gentle man, an ardent Anglophile; and he was still coming to terms with the knowledge that his degree from the University of the West Indies wouldn’t gain him entry to exclusive gentlemen’s clubs or the city’s best restaurants, that the England he lived in had little in common with the England he had read about in books.
The mystery is cleverly constructed, and it spins around rich human stories.
Barnaby, his wife Orla and their daughter, Gracie had very different feeling about life in the big city. Turkish café owner Ottamar worked hard for his family and worried about his daughter, Samira, who was growing up and away from him. Anna’s landlord Leonard was gay in a world where that wasn’t legal. Aloysius faced appalling racism and police brutality, and yet he continued to be polite and respectful.
I was very taken with them all.
I saw that they were all outsiders, they had all come to London from somewhere else; and that some of them were carrying secrets, some of them were running away from something, and that some of them were chasing dreams and ambitions. Their different stories and characters developed nicely as the mystery unravelled.
I came to realise why finding Lanny was so very important to Anna.
My only real issues were that Lanny’s backstory was more complex than it needed to be, and that while the final act of worked emotionally it was little contrived.
The time and place are very well evoked, and though some of the language and many of the attitudes shocked me I couldn’t doubt that they were authentic.
I loved the human drama, I was intrigued by the mystery; and I have to say that this is a very accomplished first novel and that I am very interested to read whatever Miranda Emmerson writes next.
January 21, 2017
Well the blurb gives a pretty good summation of the basic plot of the book, so without giving too much away, I don't really intend too elaborate too much on that. On the surface the book is a mystery concerning itself with where (and increasing who) is Iolanthe Green? When the police operation appears scaled down (following a diversionary incident concerning a beaten male prostitute and a Junior Minister), her dresser Anna is determined to find her. Her search brings Anna into contact with a darker, seedier side of life that is a far cry away from the prevailing images of Carnaby Street and Swinging London. It also brings to the fore another, and more pertinent aspect of the book, which is a look at the immigrant experience and what it's like to be on the outside or live on the fringes. It was definitely a world where the discriminatory signs of ‘No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish’ would have flourished.
Given that a couple of our central characters are Irish (Detective Barnaby (Brennan) Hayes) and black (the gentle Aloysius) it's a warning that this is not going to be an easy ride. The world we find ourselves in, is one of both implicit and shockingly explicit institutional racism and sexism. When Detective Hayes has to change his name from Brennan to Barnaby and lose his accent in an attempt to 'fit in' there is no hope for the other more obvious migrants.
Anna Treadway is a bit of a mystery herself, and as the book unfolds, we gradually learn a little more, but as with many of the characters in the book, essentially she goes though life, trying not to stand out, playing her part to merge into the crowd and fit in. She lives in the flat above a Turkish cafe in Neal Street, a flat she shares with a dancer in a revue bar in Soho. The cafe managed by Ottmar, was also the cafe she waitressed in when she first arrived in London.
Of the characters we meet in this book it is the incomers I often found more sympathetic and likeable, especially Ottmar, and Aloysius the gentle, kindly and somewhat naive Jamaican accountant who works for several of the black club owners in Soho. Ottmar and his family represent the family that on the surface probably feel as though they have been accepted/integrated, until of course something goes wrong. When their daughter is falsely arrested, they are dismissed, not believed and clearly treated as second class citizens. This may be a surprise to them, as the decent, honest and upright people they are, but Samira, the daughter is all too well aware that as a first generation immigrant she falls between the cracks. She doesn't fit in at school, she isn't English, and she doesn't fit in at home, she doesn't want to be Turkish.
Aloysius, is a complete sweetheart, which makes the abuse and brutality he receives even more upsetting to witness. He had come to England to live his dream, believing all he had heard about the Motherland. His dream of living in a house with roses around the door and being accepted as an equal, has been well and truly trampled on by the time he meets Anna. Despite this he remains a decent, gentle man, who still perceives the good in people. Thankfully, he has the good fortune to have a landlady that sees beyond his colour and accepts him for the man he is and mothers him accordingly.
So back to Iolanthe, as Anna's search continues (with the help of Aloysius and Detective Hayes) we learn that she too has her secrets and just like the others needs to adapt to be accepted. As to what those secrets are and whether she is found, I'll leave you to discover for yourself. This was by turns an interesting but uncomfortable read, but no doubt a realistic portrayal of the milieu that Anna found herself in. It was a glimpse into a slice of London life that was no doubt replicated in other cities throughout the country. It was a glimpse into a darker side of our social history that thankfully in many legal aspects we've forward from - but sadly in others sometimes I'm not so sure.
I received an ecopy from NetGalley to enable this review.
Given that a couple of our central characters are Irish (Detective Barnaby (Brennan) Hayes) and black (the gentle Aloysius) it's a warning that this is not going to be an easy ride. The world we find ourselves in, is one of both implicit and shockingly explicit institutional racism and sexism. When Detective Hayes has to change his name from Brennan to Barnaby and lose his accent in an attempt to 'fit in' there is no hope for the other more obvious migrants.
Anna Treadway is a bit of a mystery herself, and as the book unfolds, we gradually learn a little more, but as with many of the characters in the book, essentially she goes though life, trying not to stand out, playing her part to merge into the crowd and fit in. She lives in the flat above a Turkish cafe in Neal Street, a flat she shares with a dancer in a revue bar in Soho. The cafe managed by Ottmar, was also the cafe she waitressed in when she first arrived in London.
Of the characters we meet in this book it is the incomers I often found more sympathetic and likeable, especially Ottmar, and Aloysius the gentle, kindly and somewhat naive Jamaican accountant who works for several of the black club owners in Soho. Ottmar and his family represent the family that on the surface probably feel as though they have been accepted/integrated, until of course something goes wrong. When their daughter is falsely arrested, they are dismissed, not believed and clearly treated as second class citizens. This may be a surprise to them, as the decent, honest and upright people they are, but Samira, the daughter is all too well aware that as a first generation immigrant she falls between the cracks. She doesn't fit in at school, she isn't English, and she doesn't fit in at home, she doesn't want to be Turkish.
Aloysius, is a complete sweetheart, which makes the abuse and brutality he receives even more upsetting to witness. He had come to England to live his dream, believing all he had heard about the Motherland. His dream of living in a house with roses around the door and being accepted as an equal, has been well and truly trampled on by the time he meets Anna. Despite this he remains a decent, gentle man, who still perceives the good in people. Thankfully, he has the good fortune to have a landlady that sees beyond his colour and accepts him for the man he is and mothers him accordingly.
So back to Iolanthe, as Anna's search continues (with the help of Aloysius and Detective Hayes) we learn that she too has her secrets and just like the others needs to adapt to be accepted. As to what those secrets are and whether she is found, I'll leave you to discover for yourself. This was by turns an interesting but uncomfortable read, but no doubt a realistic portrayal of the milieu that Anna found herself in. It was a glimpse into a slice of London life that was no doubt replicated in other cities throughout the country. It was a glimpse into a darker side of our social history that thankfully in many legal aspects we've forward from - but sadly in others sometimes I'm not so sure.
I received an ecopy from NetGalley to enable this review.
March 26, 2017
An interesting amalgam of characters set in 1965 London. I wish Anna had a different job. A theater dresser doesn't work alongside her casting eyes aside at homosexuality. Production design for this book is excellent, if it were a play we'd be happily engaged in watching this diverse group wind its way through London in that decade. A couple too many purse swingings described, but the detail of the scenes are rich and varied otherwise. Who can I feel attached to, who do I believe? Iolanthe has character weaknesses that do not jibe with Ms. Treadway's devotion. Emmerson was engaged in hiding Anna's backstory while teasing it to make her appealing in the present. Barnaby Hayes is so busy with his upward career he can barely focus on his humanity. Aloysius cannot possibly be as naive as he appears to be about race relations in 1965 England. Ottmar, Ekin and Samira were terrific - theirs is the most engaging immigrant story of the crew. The children missing north was a piece that needed to be left out. We understand how newspaper headlines disappear too soon, regardless of what story replaces it. Wingate was a weird cameo. A woman has gone missing and the sense of urgency is just not there. A little too convenient that every single person Hayes talked to as part of his investigation spilled beans, including a banker in another country - strictly on the cuteness of his accent. This is a pleasantly told story about experiences that probably hadn't much to do with pleasantness in 1965.
August 20, 2018
Actual ratings: 3.5 stars
I never thought of such a turn of events in the book. At first, I thought it would be something like an Agatha Christie novel with the main hero of the story being the detective who in the end triumphantly cracks the case, but, it was not quite so.
The thoughts and perspectives of the main characters definitely helped the story to build on. I absolutely loved Aloysius and Anna (they make such a wonderful couple!!), Orla and adorable little Gracie.
The author's portrayal of prejudice in 1965 London, shows how much the human race has changed and unchanged over the past fifty years. I loved the women in the novel who played strong characters which really seemed to stand out.
The father of the baby of Iolanthe is still a mystery to the reader. Detective Hayes was not the man I thought he would be as the story progressed, but, in the end, it was a worthwhile read.
I never thought of such a turn of events in the book. At first, I thought it would be something like an Agatha Christie novel with the main hero of the story being the detective who in the end triumphantly cracks the case, but, it was not quite so.
The thoughts and perspectives of the main characters definitely helped the story to build on. I absolutely loved Aloysius and Anna (they make such a wonderful couple!!), Orla and adorable little Gracie.
The author's portrayal of prejudice in 1965 London, shows how much the human race has changed and unchanged over the past fifty years. I loved the women in the novel who played strong characters which really seemed to stand out.
The father of the baby of Iolanthe is still a mystery to the reader. Detective Hayes was not the man I thought he would be as the story progressed, but, in the end, it was a worthwhile read.
June 14, 2021
Another Dollar Store treasure and, coincidentally, a companion piece to Deacon King Kong. Set mostly in London during 1965, but also taking in the suburbs and a Welsh seaside town, it explores what it meant to be different in England during that particular time. I was growing up in England then and it still had a foot firmly in the 1950s, especially outside London. Abortion and homosexuality didn’t become legal for another two years. The Pill was only available to married women and racism was open and rampant. So while Miss Treadway is ostensibly about the search for a missing actress, it’s also about that England.
I lived in London during the early 1980s and Soho was still very sordid. I’ve actually been to Ronnie Scott’s club. I could smell the inside of the telephone boxes the characters had to use (no cell phones!). I’ve eaten breakfast in the same kind of fuggy cafes they frequent. The Miami Cafe run by a Greek Cypriot in my hometown wasn’t nearly as exotic as the one in this novel, but Evanthia, the owner’s daughter struggled to fit in with us. Imagine the difference between a Midlands mining town and Cyprus. So for me reading this novel was a trip down memory lane with an interesting enough mystery thrown in for good measure.
I lived in London during the early 1980s and Soho was still very sordid. I’ve actually been to Ronnie Scott’s club. I could smell the inside of the telephone boxes the characters had to use (no cell phones!). I’ve eaten breakfast in the same kind of fuggy cafes they frequent. The Miami Cafe run by a Greek Cypriot in my hometown wasn’t nearly as exotic as the one in this novel, but Evanthia, the owner’s daughter struggled to fit in with us. Imagine the difference between a Midlands mining town and Cyprus. So for me reading this novel was a trip down memory lane with an interesting enough mystery thrown in for good measure.
September 19, 2020
Read this jointly on Kindle and on audiobook. The audiobook narration was great. Adjoa Andoh made the different characters come alive with all of their different accents. The only voice that really didn't work for me was that of the main character.
The experiences of people coming to London (both international and domestic) was depicted really well. This was the strongest part of the book for me. The mystery didn't work as well.
All in all, this was an entertaining read. As it is a debut novel I don't think I would focus on its imperfections too much. I look forward to reading Emmerson's second novel A Little London Scandall soon.
The experiences of people coming to London (both international and domestic) was depicted really well. This was the strongest part of the book for me. The mystery didn't work as well.
All in all, this was an entertaining read. As it is a debut novel I don't think I would focus on its imperfections too much. I look forward to reading Emmerson's second novel A Little London Scandall soon.
March 16, 2017
**GOODREADS WIN - RATING 4.5**
MISS TREADWAY & THE FIELD OF STARS by Miranda Emmerson is a deeply emotive mystery that will make you stop in your tracks, and soak in every word and description. Anna Treadway is working as a dresser for Iolanthe Green when Iolanthe disappears one evening after a show, and Anna fears for her safety. As time passes and it looks like nobody cares about Iolanthe anymore, Anna takes the matter into her own hands and begins her own investigation, which will open her eyes to a more realistic and harsh side of London and the people who live there. From deep rooted hate and animosity, to finding new connections that may not make sense but exist nevertheless, we follow Anna and a motley crew of assorted characters as they travel far and wide to piece together the puzzle of the mystery that is Iolanthe, discovering some honest and sometimes uncomfortable truths about themselves in the process.
MISS TREADWAY & THE FIELD OF STARS by Miranda Emmerson is filled with excellent characters (if not always likeable) and perfectly depicts the different sides of London's personality, both beautiful and terrifying, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The ending was a little bit abrupt for me but only because I really wanted to learn more about what happens to Anna in the future - I'm greedy like that! (less)
MISS TREADWAY & THE FIELD OF STARS by Miranda Emmerson is a deeply emotive mystery that will make you stop in your tracks, and soak in every word and description. Anna Treadway is working as a dresser for Iolanthe Green when Iolanthe disappears one evening after a show, and Anna fears for her safety. As time passes and it looks like nobody cares about Iolanthe anymore, Anna takes the matter into her own hands and begins her own investigation, which will open her eyes to a more realistic and harsh side of London and the people who live there. From deep rooted hate and animosity, to finding new connections that may not make sense but exist nevertheless, we follow Anna and a motley crew of assorted characters as they travel far and wide to piece together the puzzle of the mystery that is Iolanthe, discovering some honest and sometimes uncomfortable truths about themselves in the process.
MISS TREADWAY & THE FIELD OF STARS by Miranda Emmerson is filled with excellent characters (if not always likeable) and perfectly depicts the different sides of London's personality, both beautiful and terrifying, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The ending was a little bit abrupt for me but only because I really wanted to learn more about what happens to Anna in the future - I'm greedy like that! (less)
March 20, 2020
3 stars is most I can do here - this book rather frustrated me. The author tried to cram way too many issues in one book - racism, anti-immigrants, abortion & birth control in 1960’s, marriage problems. Every character had a secret to hide. Scenes with the police detective became farcical by the end, but why did his wife hate him that much? Frustrating novel to me. (Owned/selling)
October 10, 2019
This book was given to me and I didn't really have high hopes for it - I'm not into theatre/actors etc. However, it was actually a really touching and interesting story! It covered LOADS of issues, and did it in an interesting and (mostly) realistic way. Enjoyable.
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