Review for The Girl in White Gloves by Kerri Maher

THE GIRL IN WHITE GLOVES by Kerri Maher

Berkley Hardcover; February 25, 2020; $26.00

Historical fiction

About the book

Grace knows what people see. She’s the Cinderella story. An icon of glamor and elegance frozen in dazzling Technicolor. The picture of perfection. The girl in white gloves.

But behind the lens, beyond the panoramic views of glistening Mediterranean azure, she knows the truth. The sacrifices it takes for an unappreciated girl from Philadelphia to defy her family and become the reigning queen of the screen. The heartbreaking reasons she trades Hollywood for a crown. The loneliness of being a princess in a fairy tale kingdom that is all too real.

Hardest of all for her adoring fans and loyal subjects to comprehend, is the harsh reality that to be the most envied woman in the world does not mean she is the happiest. Starved for affection and purpose, facing a labyrinth of romantic and social expectations with more twists and turns than Monaco’s infamous winding roads, Grace must find her own way to fulfillment. But what she risks—her art, her family, her marriage—she may never get back.

My Thoughts…

I say Grace Kelly and what comes to mind?   The Princess Grace Kelly is what I think of.  A woman who has the world available to her, living a charmed life, and wanting for nothing.   After reading The Girl in White Gloves I see a young girl trying to make it in a world that is stacked against her.    Everyone in her life is trying to mold her into what they want her to be and she is trying to find her own way.  

While I realize this is fiction, there is much history within the story.   The famous actors and actresses that worked alongside Grace Kelly are real, their relationships are real, and their stories are important.   I loved how many of the names I knew but realized quickly how little I truly knew about the actors and actresses.   It was interesting how Kerri Maher was able to give some history on almost everyone in Grace’s life and how history makes the actor important in the shaping of Hollywood.    

The Girl in White Gloves tells the story of a young girl who wants nothing more than to make everyone around her happy and to be accepted for who she is.    She is lonely, she is unhappy, and she needs to perform.   She performs on stage, on TV, and in movies but more she performs in her everyday life trying to be what everyone expects her to be.    I hated that most people did not realize that they were not being encouraging or helpful with their criticism but were beating a beautiful, talented young girl down.    Grace was strong enough to continue with her dreams, follow her heart, and make her life successful.

This is a wonderful historical fiction book about a person that everyone knows of but very few knew.   I loved getting to know Grace Kelly and learn about her amazing life.

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Advanced praise for THE GIRL IN WHITE GLOVES

“The stunning and very human story of a beloved icon…. Full of nuance and poignancy—this novel is gorgeous.”— Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of The Queen’s Fortune
 
“[A] fascinating, deeply researched novel of the extraordinary Grace Kelly … establishes Maher as a true force in biographical fiction.”—Beatriz Williams, New York Times bestselling author of The Golden Hour

About the author

Kerri Maher is the author of The Kennedy Debutante, which People magazine described as “a riveting reimagining of a true tale of forbidden love,” and This Is Not a Writing Manual: Notes for the Young Writer in the Real World under the name Kerri Majors. She holds an MFA from Columbia University and founded YARN, an award-winning literary journal of short-form YA writing. A writing professor for many years, she now writes full time and lives with her daughter and dog in a leafy suburb west of Boston, Massachusetts.