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The Secret of the Belles Reviewed By Amy Lignor Of Bookpleasures.com
- By Amy Lignor
- Published November 7, 2009
- Childrens & Young Adults
Amy Lignor
Reviewer Amy Lignor: Amy is the author of a historical fiction novel entitled The Heart of a Legend, and Mind Made, a work of science fiction. Presently, she is writing an adventure series set in the New York Public Library, as well as a teen fiction series, The Angel Chronicles. She is an avid traveler and has been fortunate to have journeyed across the USA, where she has met the most amazing people, who truly bring life and soul to her books. She lives in the Land of Enchantment (for now) with her gorgeous daughter, Shelby, her wonderful Mom, Mary, and the greatest friend and critic in the entire world - her dog, Reuben
View all articles by Amy Lignor
Author: Kathryn
Witt
ISBN: 978-160844-132-7
Click Here To Purchase The Secret of the Belles
I can't even begin
to tell you how excited I was to receive this book in the mail.
It couldn't have gone to a better person. Why, you ask?
Am I one of the famous "Windies?" (This is the group
of die-hard Gone With the Wind fans who live throughout the
world). Do I watch GWTW all the time? Do I wish
that I lived in hoop skirts, and pined for Ashley Wilkes?
Actually, no. I had something even better during my lifetime
that taught me every nuance, line, word, and breath that the
characters of GWTW took...my sister. Except for an
occasional mention of The Wizard of Oz with my sister,
Scarlett O'Hara and crew were the people she liked the most.
And...apparently I've really been missing her. (Another side
note, my sister's name is Kathryn - just like the author.)
Coincidence?
Our story begins in 1939 with a
thirteen-year-old girl named Lanie Sullivan. Lanie is a
die-hard Margaret Mitchell GWTW fan and wants nothing more
than to leave her home in Marietta, and travel to Atlanta for the
premiere of the greatest movie ever made. Once her mother sees
the stars beaming from her daughter's eyes, she relents, and sends
Lanie to stay with her Aunt in the big city for a week. In
fact, her Aunt Callie works at the Georgian Terrace Hotel in Atlanta
where all the stars are coming to stay for the big premiere.
Lanie's heart is in her throat. She can hardly believe that she
could be standing in the same room as her idol, Ona Munson.
Now, I know you thought that I was going to say Vivian Leigh or Clark
Gable, but (and this is so exciting for me, because I completely
agree) Ona Munson is the little girl's favorite actress in the
movie. Ona played Belle Watling - for all you non-GWTW folk;
the red-headed spitfire, long-suffering madame with a heart of
gold.
The reader is then taken forward to
the year 2003, where a young girl by the name of Isabelle (yes, she
is called Belle) is studying to be a curator when she grows up.
She has copper-colored hair and a yen to learn absolutely everything
she can about her chosen career by helping with the opening of a new
museum in her hometown of Marietta, Georgia. The museum will be
called The Gone With the Wind Museum - Scarlett on the Square (this
is a real building, by the way). In the book, Dr. Clay Sinclair
is a gentleman who has purchased almost every artifact there was for
this once-in-a-lifetime movie. He's placed bid and gotten many
of the actors and actresses estates after they'd passed away -
including Ona Munson's estate. In one of the boxes, Belle finds
letters from a young girl to Ona Munson explaining how wonderful her
trip to the premiere was, and how she was so grateful to Miss Munson
for giving her a gift. Belle can't understand. What
gift? Did this young child in 1939 actually meet Belle Watling
and become friends with her? But how? And what gift could
the mega-star have given to an unknown child working at a
hotel?
The story unfolds, taking us periodically back
and forth between Lanie in 1939 and Belle in 2003. We get to
see through the eyes of Lanie as she struggles to meet her idol.
We watch her as she is stuck cleaning rooms with her Aunt, waiting
for the arrival of the biggest stars of all time. Of course,
Lanie is too poor to buy a ticket to The Premiere, but she will
settle for simply "catching a glance" of the famous
stars.
Back in 2003, we watch Belle struggle
between going to school, getting a recommendation from the museum's
owner, Ms. Josephs, to be allowed to go to a "curator-camp"
for the summer, and the letters of a young girl who she soon finds
herself identifying with in every way. Poor Belle also
struggles with the fact that she's in love with the handsomest boy in
town - Cole Bishop. Unfortunately, she knows she's a geek and
he probably won't want anything to do with her.
From the
fantastic descriptions of 1930's Atlanta wardrobes: "A
wide-brimmed hat trimmed with a brilliantly colored ribbon bobbed
next to a derby in a Model T, what Lanie's daddy called a Tin
Lizzie. Belching black smoke in its wake, a city bus chugged
by, its occupants perched stiffly beneath berets and pillbox hats,
fedoras and panamas" To the wonderful explanation of a
home in Marietta, Georgia in 2003, built by a man who loved to add
hidden places under floorboards and tunnels behind pictures in the
walls: "concealed passageways that would creak
open...buttons that could be pushed to release openings in the walls
with hidden treasures inside...false bottom drawers to hide
secrets..." I wanted to live in this house once this
well-written book came to an end.
The story is fresh and
new and full of surprises. Heartfelt is the word that comes to
mind as I follow the life of a young girl waiting to meet her idol,
and a young girl struggling to find her dream and uncover a startling
puzzle that will make the reader gasp in surprise. Again, this
is classified as a young adult book, but parents and grandparents
- GWTW lovers or not - will be more than happy with this
lovely story.
To you, my sister, I finally understand
the "point" of GWTW through the eyes of these
characters. I miss you and our strange talks about movies, and
such. Hopefully one day I can find the reason why The Big
Chill was so important, as well. See? After twenty
years, maybe there's hope for me yet.
I
thank the writer of this novel - I hope she continues to write more
wonderful stories. And, "Frankly, my dear....",
you all need to go out and buy this book.
Until
Next Time