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The Great Pretenders Paperback – 16 April 2019

by Laura Kalpakian (Author)

4.5 27 ratings

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The daughter of Hollywood royalty, Roxanne Granville is used to getting what she wants--even if she has to break the rules. But after a falling-out with her grandfather, a powerful movie mogul, she has to face life on her own for the first time....

Roxanne forges a career unique for women in the 1950s, becoming an agent for hungry young screenwriters. She struggles to be taken seriously by the men who rule Hollywood and who often assume that sexual favors are just a part of doing business. When she sells a script by a blacklisted writer under the name of a willing front man, more exiled writers seek her help. Roxanne wades into a world murky with duplicity and deception, and she can't afford any more risks.

Then she meets Terrence Dexter, a compelling African American journalist unlike anyone she's ever known. Roxanne again breaks the rules, and is quickly swept up in a passionate relationship with very real dangers that could destroy everything she's carefully built.

Roxanne Granville is a woman who bravely defies convention. She won't let men make all the rules, and won't let skin color determine whom she can love. The Great Pretenders is a riveting, emotional novel that resonates in today's world, and reminds us that some things are worth fighting for.

Print length

384 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
Publication date

16 April 2019
Dimensions

13.94 x 2.57 x 20.8 cm
ISBN-10

110199018X
ISBN-13

978-1101990186
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10% extra discount each month. Use code CB10JUL this July (minimum spend of AED150, max discount of AED50) when using Citi Mastercard credit card. For details visit: www.amazon.ae/citi. Discount by Amazon. Here's how (restrictions apply)

Product description

Review

Praise for The Great Pretenders

"What a good book! Engagingly readable, full of Golden Age of Hollywood glitz--and a wonderful story of idealism, courage and the price of love. Enjoyed every page!"--Diana Gabaldon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Outlander

"In her riveting new novel, Laura Kalpakian has given us a heroine to cheer for in this juicy tale of Hollywood. Roxanne Granville's journey from diffident daughter of privilege to boundary-shattering career woman who takes on both the Hollywood blacklist and the racial prejudices of the early Civil Rights era is breathtaking and moving, even epic."--Melanie Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Girls in the Picture

"[An] empowering, beautifully written story transports readers to 1950s-era Hollywood."--Woman's World

"This empowering historical fiction novel reminds women everywhere that they're capable of anything they put their minds to."--Brit & Co

"Brave and confident, [Roxanne] refuses to let men make all the rules."--She Reads

"Both a wild romp through glittering 1950s Hollywood, and a poignant journey of love and courage in the blacklist-era of the silver screen. I was swept away by the passionate story and whip-smart writing. Laura Kalpakian's clever prose introduces us to a vibrant woman we can admire--a woman both brave and vulnerable. After one fearless choice, her life seems to careen toward certain wreckage, yet Roxanne is there to show us that integrity and love are the conquering powers. Deeply moving, intelligent and charming, this is a story to savor. "--Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of The Bookshop at Water's End

"A fascinating journey into the intrigues and hypocrisies of 1950s Hollywood, coupled with an indomitable heroine who dares to shatter the rules. Exciting, fast-paced, and revelatory."--C.W. Gortner, author of The Romanov Empress

"Set against the glitter of Hollywood during the McCarthy era, one courageous woman, forced to start anew, reinvents herself as an agent and ends up selling blacklisted scripts. The screenwriters she represents are every bit as forbidden as the African American man she falls in love with. Kalpakian has written a timely story that deftly deals with racism and the fight for justice. The Great Pretenders is poignant, touching and often filled with laugh-out-loud wit."--Renée Rosen, author of Park Avenue Summer

About the Author

Laura Kalpakian has won a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Award, the Anahid Award for an American writer of Armenian descent, the PEN West Award, and the Stand International Short Fiction Competition. She has had residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Montalvo Center for the Arts, and Hawthornden Castle in Scotland. She is the author of multiple novels and over a hundred stories published in collections, anthologies, literary journals and magazines in the U.S. and the U.K. A native of California, Laura lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S. (16 April 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 110199018X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1101990186
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.94 x 2.57 x 20.8 cm

Customer reviews:
4.5 27 ratings

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5

27 global ratings

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Richard Little

Terrific read!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 6 June 2019

Verified Purchase

Boffo!
Laura Kalpakian's wonderful The Great Pretenders delivers what good novels are supposed to: fully developed characters, colorful scenes, interesting scenarios, and terrific writing. Plus suspense.
The several plot lines are plausible and emotional—a powerful movie mogul and his studio, his rambunctious and rebellious granddaughter, her dangerous love affair, hangers-on and retainers—all against a backdrop of the movie industry in Hollywood in the 50s and the horrific Red Baiting and blacklisting of the McCarthy era. She has clearly done her research into the forces of injustice, the roles of key actors (good and bad), and the vitriol of the era—in the motion picture industry specifically, in the divisive bigotry of ordinary people, and in the burgeoning Civil Rights movement.
Ms. Kalpakian's descriptions of her Los Angeles and environs are spot-on. Her knowledge of the movie industry is prodigious! In what might otherwise have been blatant name-dropping, Ms. Kalpakian delightfully parades across the pages more actors, directors, producers, movie scenes, gossip, and certainly writers than I could keep up with. My problem, not hers. The woman does love motion pictures! I bet she had a good time.
All that said, what also kept me reading was her believable, spunky, honest, and dear "Roxanne." (How apt that name!) The main character's courage, her mistakes, her willfulness, her victories, her downfall, and … well, no spoiler here ... I'll honor the suspense.

3 people found this helpful

connie

i could NOT put this book down.....

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 1 May 2019

Verified Purchase

I read this book in one fell swoop, captured by every scene, every nuance. I"m an avid historical fiction reader but especially those books which interweave the critical social and political waves of the era and which take me there. Kalpakian does this seamlessly. No one has written - certainly not recently to my knowledge - about our country's history of blacklisting writers and artists during the McCarthy era and the human lives it destroyed. The expectation of sexual favors by men in power, the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement: all of these are issues we continue to face today in our society. and in the world. Roxanne comes from an entitled and dysfunctional family, but her story offers a beacon of hope (her's and Terrence's as well) demonstrating that individuals can and do make a difference in the broader scheme of things.

4 people found this helpful

birdma

A book to buy, read, and then lend to a friend

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 18 April 2019

Verified Purchase

The Great Pretenders is a great read. Set in Hollywood during the McCarthy era of writer blacklists, chauvinism, threats to free speech, and early efforts for civil rights, the characters in these pages struggle, celebrate, and find themselves thwarted by forces that are far beyond their power to control. The sense of place and history is spot on and vivid with details. I was riveted by these dramas of dysfunctional family, forbidden love, and the fight for social justice. And I was delighted by the dollops of feisty wit, wisdom, and humor. The central character, Roxanne Granville, takes us along as she navigates her complicated world. And those complications and conflicts do not seem so far removed from our current time as they once did. This is a book to buy, read, and then lend to a friend.

2 people found this helpful

Sara Stamey

Bold, captivating, filled with passion and vivid characters!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 15 May 2019

Verified Purchase

Bold, captivating, filled with passion and vivid characters -- a Laura Kalpakian novel. Of course! Set in 1950s Hollywood and exploring the damage wreaked by the McCarthy-era victimization of "Communist" writers and others, this fascinating story fleshes out the history for us. Told from the point of view of Roxanne, an initially oblivious, wealthy Hollywood insider, the story gradually strips away her illusions as she suffers for her attempts to assist some of the victims of the purge. There are hard-hitting truths here, about rascism as well, but also a lot of glitzy fun, with cameos by famous actors at glamorous gatherings. A page-turner with heart and soul!

2 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 1 June 2019

Verified Purchase

The Great Pretenders, an historical romance set in 1950s red-baiting Hollywood has a wonderful main character in Roxanne Granville, an independent, smart, brave, sometimes reckless young woman living in a time when female stereotypes often overwhelmed the lives of women who wanted something more than marriage and family. The supporting cast of friends, lovers and family too are alive with depth and variety, humor and drama. Laura Kalpakian has done her research, skillfully bringing to life the history, culture, the movie industry, and real people of the time and place.

One person found this helpful

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The Great Pretenders Paperback – 16 April 2019

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