Thanks to Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the blog tour for this tale of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll in 1960s Marrakesh.
As always, opinions are entirely my own.
From the Publisher:
A TRANSPORTING LOOK AT 60’S COUNTER-CULTURE: Talitha Getty was married to oil heir John Paul Getty and was deeply connected to the English ex-pat scene in Marrakesh. She was a friend and muse of the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Yves Saint Laurent and moreāall of whom figure into this sumptuous novel.
In her first novel inspired by a true story, New York Times bestselling author Jane Green re-imagines the glamorous and tragic life of fashion icon and socialite Talitha Getty, for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Paula McClain.
Claire grew up in a small town, far from the glitz and glamour of London. Ridiculed by her stepmother Linda, and harboring a painful crush on her brother’s best friend, she has begun to outgrow the life laid out before her. On the cusp of adulthood in the late 1960s, Claire yearns for the adventure and independence of a counter-culture taking root across the world.
One day a chance encounter leads to an unexpected opportunity. Whispers of a palace in Morocco. A getaway where famous artists, models, fashion designers and musicians–even the Rolling Stones–have been known to visit.
When Claire arrives in Marrakesh, she’s swept up in a heady world of music, drugs and communal living. But one magnetic young woman seems to hold sway over the entire scene. Talitha Getty, socialite wife of the famous oil heir, has pulled everyone from Yves Saint Laurent to Marianne Faithfull into her orbit. Yet when she meets Claire, the pair instantly connect. As they grow closer, and the inner circle tightens, the realities of Talitha’s precarious life set off a chain of dangerous events that could alter Claire’s life forever.
Bestselling author Jane Green’s first work of biographical fiction breathes new life into a complicated fashion icon and the tumultuous world she inhabited. Page turning, lush and luminously drawn, ‘Sister Stardust’ is a transporting journey through a forgotten chapter of the swinging 60s by a beloved writer at the top of her game.
My Review:
I’ve loved lots of Jane Green’s novels before, so it wasn’t exactly a hard sell to get me to read her latest – especially as it promised to contain the heady mix of 1960s rock icons, lots of Moroccan sun and bucketloads of very bad behaviour by all concerned!
The story centres on Claire, a young woman who has outgrown the small-minded, small town she has grown up in – and who longs to escape her particularly mean stepmother. Taking on a shop job in London, Claire reinvents herself as Cece and finds herself caught up in a whirlwind of bright young things – musicians, muses and models. When a chance to go to Marrakesh arises, Cece grasps the opportunity with both hands and finds herself pulled into the orbit of the intoxicating Talitha Getty. But Talitha’s world is as dangerous as it is glamorous…
I loved the biographical direction that this novel takes – a far cry from Jane Green’s previous (excellent) books but a welcome shift. I am always keen to be immersed in different places and lives and this book does feature a lot of big names. The Gettys, Jagger and the Rolling Stones, Marianne Faithfull, Yves Saint Laurent…there were plenty of familiar names, although it was a bit tricky at times to determine which were the fictional characters – I’d have loved a little cast list at the back to help me with this! I guess the seamlessness of it all is the skill of biographical fiction, but it doesn’t help those of us Googling everything!
The sun-soaked Marrakesh setting was everything I hoped for and more – this is a book that doesn’t hold back on the glorious sensory detail of the place, the food and the mind-altering substances! I thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in the souks and riads of Morocco and was intrigued by the sumptuous recipes interspersed throughout the book (might have to give Hashish Fudge a miss though…)
Claire’s journey through 1960s counterculture made for an interesting narrative arc – from the claustrophobia of her upbringing to the little freedoms offered by shop work in London to her overwhelming and mind-expanding experiences in Morocco. The framing narrative of her present-day life as an older woman was also clever – although I’m not sure I’d want to relate quite that level of detail about what I got up to in Morocco to my daughter…
Given how beautifully the setting is described and how eclectic the supporting cast, I just wished that Talitha herself – the heart of the novel – was more present as a character. She’s described as gorgeous, vibrant and magnetic, but I longed to witness more of her hypnotic power for myself. She appears a good way into the novel and I never truly got the sense of why people were charmed by her to the extent they were.
Overall, this is a well-researched and immersive historical novel. I found it compelling and engaging throughout, even as it made me realise that I’d have been the 1960s square complaining about the smoke and the fact that everyone was drugged up to the eyeballs! That aside, I enjoyed my little glimpse into 1960s Morocco and would recommend this to anyone else who is quite happy to experience the decadence vicariously.
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Thanks for the blog tour support x