BOOK REVIEW: Glimmer As You Can by Danielle Martin @tlcbooktours #glimmerasyoucan

A book that is truly a story for women, Glimmer As You Can is set in the 1960s and is at its core a story about female friendships and the strength and support women can lend to one another.

About the Book

Welcome to the Starlite. Let your true self shine.

1962. In the middle of Brooklyn Heights sits the Starlite: boutique dress shop by day, underground women’s club by night. Started by the shop’s proprietor after her marriage crumbled, Madeline’s social club soon becomes a safe haven for women from all walks of life looking for a respite from their troubled relationships and professional frustrations. These after-hour soirées soon bring two very different women into Madeline’s life–Elaine, a British ex-pat struggling to save her relationship, and Lisa, a young stewardess whose plans for the future are suddenly upended–irrevocably changing all three women’s lives in ways no one could have predicted.

But when Madeline’s ne’er-do-well ex-husband shows up again, the luster of Starlite quickly dampens. As the sisterhood rallies around Madeline, tension begins to eat at the club. When an unspeakable tragedy befalls their sorority, one woman must decide whether to hide the truth from the group or jeopardize her own hopes and dreams. Sure to appeal to readers of Kathleen Tessaro and Suzanne Rindell, Glimmer As You Can captures the heartbeat of an era and the ambitions of a generation of women living in a man’s world–a world threatened by a wave of change.

Reflection

This book is driven more by the characters and historical context than by action, which is a narrative style that I tend to love. In the early 1960s, we were in a time of social change and right on the precipice of some change that would shape our lives as we know them today. It’s an important time in history, and as a woman I connected with the story and reading about a time that isn’t so long ago in the grand scheme of the world, but that feels like many lifetimes away.

The three leading ladies are wonderful characters and I truly have a spot in my heart for each. Lisa is a Pan Am stewardess (now adays we would never refer to them as that, but I have a lot stories I’ve heard about the grand days of Pan Am and the fallout since a portion of Pan Am was purchased by United Airlines, where I work). Lisa constantly worries about weigh ins at work—Pan Am stewardesses are held to a rigorous weight requirement. Meanwhile, she hopes to marry her boyfriend Bully despite the possibility that this might mean the end of her career.

Elaine is an aspiring journalist, though female reporters were almost unheard of at the time. She applies instead for a role as a fact checker for The Chronicle, hoping to at least work her way up. However, similar to Lisa, Elaine fears that her career won’t be possible if her fiancé isn’t in support of it. Things with her fiancé have been difficult since the death of his father.

Elaine and Lisa are both regulars at The Starlight, a dress shop opened by designer Madeline who begins a women’s social club at her shop in the wake of a messy divorce from her ex-husband. Now, The Starlight is a safe haven for women such as Madeline, Elaine, and Lisa, where they can form friendships and support one another through life’s struggles. But when Madeline’s ex-husband turns up afraid that Madeline may reveal his secrets, the women must rally around her and truly put their bonds to the test.

The barriers faced by each woman due to her gender are in strike contrast to the supportive, open environment at The Starlight. Madeline is one of those incredible women who brings others together, a skill I often admire but don’t excel in myself. This is truly the story of how women supporting women can withstand even the hardest of times. A beautiful story!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for my copy. Opinions are my own.