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Summary |
Tucked away in her parents' lavish Beverly Hills mansion, young Fleur de Leigh has all the benefits of a privileged and glamorous upbringing. Or so she is frequently told. Fleur's mother, a flamboyant, ambitious B-movie actress and eponymous star of The Charmian Leigh Radio Mystery Half-Hour, and her aloof father, currently reduced to producing the TV game show Sink or Get Rich, casually entrust their daughter's welfare to a procession of nannies, cooks and character actors. Surrounded by falsies, false eyelashes, and lust for fame, Fleur seeks to learn from her eccentric caretakers the difference between real love and its many imitations. A Los Angeles Times Book Review and Library Journal Best Book of the Year. |
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Reviews |
" A delicious and disturbing glimpse behind the high stucco walls of Hollywood circa 1957 . . . Leslie - who clearly knows the Hollywood she lampoons - balances the sincerity of Fleur's narration with the superficiality of her surroundings, eliciting shivers of compassion." - Nina Sonenberg, The New York Times Book Review |
"Enchanting . . . . A delectable margarita, mixing the salt of tears, the bite of truth and the sunny intoxication of southern California." - Deirdre Donahue, USA Today |
"Leslie reveals a world that's as shiny and as frozen as a game-show host's smile and a little girl who navigates it with heartening savvy." - Mark Rozzo, Los Angeles Times Book Review |
"It's a rare voice that success in bringing to life the bitter comedy of childhood under siege from unreliable adults--and succeeds without the victim's whine. In Fleur de Leigh, Diane Leslie has created that voice: wry, ironic, still trusting, still touchingly tolerant. It's an even rarer voice that can bring to life a period as dated and overdone as Hollywood in the '50s. This, too, the author pulls off . . . . It's all there, bright and crisp, like a lovingly restored cut from a grainy old classic." - Wendy Law-Yone, The Washington Post |
"Anyone who has ever been a child has something to complain about; celebrity is no criterion. But Leslie's sprightly prose precludes dwelling on her heroine's dissatisfaction. Rather, by summoning the same resourcefulness she attributed to Fleur, Leslie prescribes an age-old remedy: Have a laugh and move on." - Sunil Iyengar, San Francisco Chronicle |
"If you've ever dreamed of living a Hollywood life, you won't anymore after reading this breezy first novel." - The Wall Street Journal |
"Witty, sweet, curiously moving . . . rare, lovely, and slightly outrageous." - Mark Johnson, San Jose Mercury News |
"An enchanting, believable, and wickedly funny tale. . . . The tales are related with such sparkling writing and told with such verve that it is impossible not to enjoy them." - Robin Vidimos, Denver Post |
"Leslie's breezy tone turns what could have been a bitter, morose tell all into a wickedly funny, readable kiss-and-tell." - Brenda Gunter, Houston Chronicle |
"[A] wonderfully droll and cynical picture of Tinseltown . . . unlike most movies today, Leslie manages to craft a coherent Hollywood story that makes us laugh and reflect while she entertains us." - Sue Pierman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinal |
"This novel is truthful, funny, poignant. Fleur navigates the odd terrain, gains strength, retains humanity. Go, Fleur." - Sarah Sarai, The Seattle Times |
"Leslie brings Fleur to very believable life." - Mandy Davis, St. Louis Post-Dispatch |
"An often hilarious, semi-autobiographical tale of a young girl coming-of-age in the glittery environs of Beverly Hills and Hollywood. - Paula Friedman, Chicago Tribune |
"[Leslie's] sly wit and offhand candor unite to create a charming and memorable protagonist. . . . The questing, curious, and ever-growing character of Fleur is a delightful creation -- a fictional character worth meeting and remembering." - Diane Blakely, Nashville Scene |
