Book Review – Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars by Miranda Emmerson

About the Book

Soho. 1965, When an American actress disappears from the Galaxy Theatre, her young dresser, Anna Treadway is determined to find out what happened to her.

Anna’s search will lead her through a London she barely knew existed: a city of reggae clubs and back street doctors, of dangerous prejudice and unexpected allies. She is aided by a disparate group of émigrés, each carrying secrets of their own.

But before she can discover the truth about Iolanthe, Anna will need to open herself – to her past, her present and the possibility of love.

Format: ebook (306 pages) Publisher: 4th Estate
Publication date: 12th January 2017 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

This was a great read that would keep you entertained for hours on a train or plane journey.  At first, it seems like it’s going to be a straightforward period detective mystery but there are a number of elements that, as you read on, raise it to another level. 

Firstly, the authentic feel of the period setting.  This is the England of homes without central heating, smoke-filled bars and buses, seedy clubs, drugs, awful coffee, backstreet abortions and, most shockingly, homophobia and overt racism against black people, Irish people and basically anyone who is perceived as an outsider. 

Secondly, Miranda Emmerson has created such a great cast of supplementary characters, including Ottmar, the Turkish café owner, and Aloysius, the Jamaican accountant.   It is no accident that the characters who help Anna in her search for Iolanthe are all outsiders and perhaps it’s the fact that Iolanthe is also an outsider that makes them care so much for her fate. 

Lastly, this is such a multi-layered novel because underneath the simple mystery narrative are questions of identity and reinvention.   All the characters have either reinvented themselves, wish to reinvent themselves or are struggling to play a part they haven’t quite come to terms with.  There’s Anna, who admits “I tried to be someone and I failed” and is drawn to starting over anew; Sergeant Brennan Hayes, who changes his Christian name and accent to disguise his Irish origins (“His new voice commanded more respect, his new name spoke of privileged beginnings.  He didn’t belong anywhere, he was aware of this, but he looked like he belonged, sounded like he belonged”); his wife, Orla, who empathises with Iolanthe’s determination that “one part of your life needs to end and another to begin” when she realises that Brennan “just wasn’t who I thought he was at all”;  and Aloysius, who has moved to London because he is “in love with the idea of England” but the England of Dickens, which turns out to be a far cry from reality he experiences.   

I was really impressed with this book.  At the end, there are questions unanswered but I’d like to think these were not unintended loose ends but deliberate on the part of the author or (even better) threads to be woven into a future book.

I received an advance review copy courtesy 4th Estate via NetGalley.

In three words: Authentic, engaging, satisfying

About the Author

Miranda is a novelist, playwright and academic. Originally from London she now lives in South Wales where she watches the fairground at Barry Island spin and whirl from her desk.

Before she started writing novels she wrote drama for BBC Radio 4, adapting books and writing original dystopian science fiction. And before that she was a secretary, a copy writer, a receptionist, a sale assistant and all the others things writers do to get by. Before all those things she was a reader, an only child who lost herself in books and loved the worlds they allowed her to explore.

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