Happy Release Day!
Congratulations Constance
on the release today of
The Star and the Strange Moon!
The Star and the Strange Moon by Constance Sayers
Historical Fiction, Fantasy, 480 pages
Published November 14, 2023 by Redhook
From the author of A Witch in Time comes a haunting tale of ambition, obsession, and the eternal mystery and magic of film.
1968: Actress Gemma Turner once dreamed of stardom. Unfortunately, she’s on the cusp of slipping into obscurity. When she’s offered the lead in a radical new horror film, Gemma believes her luck has finally changed. But L’Etrange Lune’s set is not what she expected. The director is eccentric, and the script doesn’t make sense.
Gemma is determined to make this work. It’s her last chance to achieve her dream—but that dream is about to derail her life. One night, between the shadows of an alleyway, Gemma disappears on set and is never seen again. Yet, Gemma is still alive. She’s been transported into the film and the script—and the monsters within it—are coming to life. She must play her role perfectly if she hopes to survive.
2015: Gemma Turner’s disappearance is one of film history’s greatest mysteries—one that’s haunted film student Christopher Kent ever since he saw his first screening of L’Etrange Lune. The screenings only happen once a decade and each time there is new, impossible footage of Gemma long after she vanished. Desperate to discover the truth, Christopher risks losing himself. He’ll have to outrun the cursed legacy of the film—or become trapped by it forever.
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)
First lines—"'It's going to be different this time, I swear it.' Christopher Kent's mother pulled the car out of the mostly vacant lot."
This book was not at all what I was expecting. Maybe I didn't read the synopsis close enough? Maybe I was influenced by the cover? I don't know. I was expecting an historical fiction story, kind of like a lot of the other ones that I had read. The Star and the Strange Moon is so much more that just historical fiction... so much more.
The star of the story, Gemma Turner disappears suddenly while filming what she hopes will be the one that makes her famous. The mystery of her disappearance is what she becomes renowned for. Then years later Christopher Kent, a film student who has been obsessed with Gemma since he was a little boy and witnessed his mother's unusual reaction to a picture of Gemma, may be close to finding out the truth. But at what cost?
Like I said, there is so much more to this story than what I had been expecting and I loved that I sort of went into it blind and didn't know what to expect. The twists and turns to the plot kept me enthralled and made me keep turning the pages. This did not feel like an almost 500 page book, it flew by that quickly. Great storytelling and such memorable worlds to get lost in.
I highly recommend The Star and the Strange Moon, for all readers of historical fiction, where you will be led outside of the usual genre and get to enjoy a much bigger story. I will definitely be checking out more of this author's work.
I received The Star and the Strange Moon from the publisher and this is my honest opinion.
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