House Of Destiny (Hardcover) - Hardcover

Leigh, Janet

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 155166125X ISBN 13: 9781551661254

Publisher: Mira, 1995

Synopsis

The veteran actress draws on her Hollywood savvy to create the story of an unlikely partnership between a Spanish bellhop named Jude Abavas and Wade Colby, movie star, who together transform and discover romance in Hollywood. Tour.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Hard on the heels of her memoir, Psycho: Behind the Scenes, comes actress Leigh's first novel; and, while she will never win any prizes for style (her prose veers between functional and bathetic), the book is a conscientious attempt to record the history of a film colony in the lives of two unlikely friends. In 1936, Sun Valley, Idaho, becomes the winter playground for socialites and Hollywood's leading stars. Local bad boy Jude Abavas joins the staff at the ski resort, and soon the ambitious sheepherder becomes indispensable to management and guests. He is befriended by Wade Colby, real-estate heir and Hollywood's newest screen idol. After the tragic death of his wife and son, Jude leaves Sun Valley for L.A., where Wade hires him as his personal assistant. So begins a 20-year partnership that endures as Wade achieves superstardom and Jude becomes a major producer. A mini-history of the resort and of the film community flashes by as the pair survive the McCarthy years, branch out into TV and fall in love with the same woman. Leigh weaves fact and fiction bravely, though her apparent desire to mention nearly every person relevant to her two settings ?and every significant national and international event from 1915 to 1990?results in veritable lists of names flashed on the page but never to be seen again. She also relies on frequent tragedies to provide incident, and her characterization is superficial at best. But readers drawn to the book by curiosity may find themselves engrossed in Hollywood lore. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In her fiction debut, actress Janet Leigh has stuck to writing about what she knows best: Hollywood. Even before Sun Valley, Idaho, became a playground for Hollywood stars, Jude Abavas knew he would not stay to work the family farm because of his rivalry with his twin brother. The construction in Sun Valley gives Jude an escape and an introduction to rising screen star Wade Colby, who becomes a lasting friend. When Jude's youthful marriage shatters with the deaths of his wife and son, he flees to Hollywood and Wade to escape the memories. There his ambition and friendship with Wade entrenches him in Hollywood so deeply that the major studios worry about his influence over Wade's career. Jude craves power, but not at the cost of his friendship with Wade and his growing love for a young actress named Penelope. When Wade announces his own love for Penelope, Jude retreats to the background. This book will appeal to devotees of Hollywood fact and fiction for the vignettes of Hollywood history are skillfully interwoven to complement the characters' stories, and Leigh manages to insert personal history in several places. Recommended. Melanie Duncan

Edition details

• Publisher: Mira
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 155166125X
• ISBN 13: 9781551661254
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448