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A review by bookswithlydscl
The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Silvia Moreno-Garcia was a 2023 new author discovery for me and as I rapidly plough through her repertoire I'm finding time and again that she delivers the goods and The Seventh Veil of Salome is no different.
The ever eclectic crosser of genres, this time SMG has settled on historical fiction, giving us the glamourous and not-quite so glamourous world of Old Hollywood. Set in the 1950s at the height of the Hays code and the Red Scare, Salome is a warts and all love letter to filmmaking, the film world and its bit players. But of course it's so much more than that. Amongst the points of view of our three main characters -Vera, Nancy and Salome, we get romance, jealousy, revenge, the desire to grow up and not be under the shadow of family, commentary on a woman's place in Hollywood, commentary on what it is to be a person of colour especially during that era.
I found it to be just a gorgeous piece of writing overall. It was powerful, vivid and fluid, bringing the characters, setting and story to life. The story of Salome playing out at the same time as Vera and Nancy's stories showed us, as readers, that nothing truly changes. Whether in Bibilical times, the 1950s or now the struggles, challenges and fears of womanhood are still essentially the same and all three of our leads have so many connections and similarities despite all being so vastly different.
The story builds slowly and I loved the interspersing of reflections and think pieces by bit characters throughout that helps move the story along and rounds out the thoughts and actions of Vera, Nancy and Salome. You know it's all building to something as you're reading but it's never quite clear what direction the inevitable tragedy will take, even knowing the ending of the Salome story you muse throughout about what shape it could take in our 1950s storyline.
The ending, when we got there, just got straight to my heart. It was bittersweet and left a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach with a sense of loss and yearning for more and yearning for a different outcome whilst also perfectly bringing all strands of the story together.
It was no surprise to me that I absolutely loved this book, especially as I am an eclectic reader and flit between genres so Moreno-Garcia's varying use of genres in her works absolutely suits me and she hit the spot with this historical fiction entry in her canon. It was enchanting with a cleverly woven story that gives you so much more than just being about the making of a film and I can see myself coming back to it repeatedly in the future.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books | Arcadia for a digital review copy of "The Seventh Veil of Salome" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.
The ever eclectic crosser of genres, this time SMG has settled on historical fiction, giving us the glamourous and not-quite so glamourous world of Old Hollywood. Set in the 1950s at the height of the Hays code and the Red Scare, Salome is a warts and all love letter to filmmaking, the film world and its bit players. But of course it's so much more than that. Amongst the points of view of our three main characters -Vera, Nancy and Salome, we get romance, jealousy, revenge, the desire to grow up and not be under the shadow of family, commentary on a woman's place in Hollywood, commentary on what it is to be a person of colour especially during that era.
I found it to be just a gorgeous piece of writing overall. It was powerful, vivid and fluid, bringing the characters, setting and story to life. The story of Salome playing out at the same time as Vera and Nancy's stories showed us, as readers, that nothing truly changes. Whether in Bibilical times, the 1950s or now the struggles, challenges and fears of womanhood are still essentially the same and all three of our leads have so many connections and similarities despite all being so vastly different.
The story builds slowly and I loved the interspersing of reflections and think pieces by bit characters throughout that helps move the story along and rounds out the thoughts and actions of Vera, Nancy and Salome. You know it's all building to something as you're reading but it's never quite clear what direction the inevitable tragedy will take, even knowing the ending of the Salome story you muse throughout about what shape it could take in our 1950s storyline.
The ending, when we got there, just got straight to my heart. It was bittersweet and left a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach with a sense of loss and yearning for more and yearning for a different outcome whilst also perfectly bringing all strands of the story together.
It was no surprise to me that I absolutely loved this book, especially as I am an eclectic reader and flit between genres so Moreno-Garcia's varying use of genres in her works absolutely suits me and she hit the spot with this historical fiction entry in her canon. It was enchanting with a cleverly woven story that gives you so much more than just being about the making of a film and I can see myself coming back to it repeatedly in the future.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books | Arcadia for a digital review copy of "The Seventh Veil of Salome" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.