Adele Astaire was a gifted and lovable dance star in 1920s New York. While history favors the legacy of her younger brother, Fred, many during that time would say that Adele was the more talented and charming one of the pair. Even so, she never planned to perform for audiences for her entire life. Starring Adele Astaire by Eliza Knight is a historical fiction piece that imagines the famous dancer’s life from her point of view. Readers learn about her dancing career in New York and London, her partnership with her brother, and life beyond the stage. 

The book begins with the Astaire siblings boarding the Aquitania to the UK to make their London debut. From the very beginning, readers get to know Adele (then age 26). She reminisces about her training and performances with Fred in New York. But also while anxiously aware that the London stage could make or break their careers. She feels that her life was decided for her, and envisions who Adele Austerlitz would have become had she not begun dancing lessons at age eight and subsequently adopted a stage name. Readers understand that Adele’s trajectory throughout the story will be a bit more complicated than they might have envisioned. 

Knight also treats readers to another point of view in Starring Adele Astaire. A younger, determined, yet equally talented dancer, Violet Wood, catches Adele’s eye while auditioning for one of her shows. From then on, Adele takes the young hopeful under her wing. The two begin a strong friendship with one another, despite being from extremely different backgrounds. Unfortunately, Violet’s mother does not approve of her career choice. Even so, Violet finds a way to continue working towards her dream, against all odds. 

While many details about Adele’s life are easy to find, Starring Adele Astaire offers something different. Readers wonder how the famous performer might have felt during the most significant moments in her life. From meeting and spending time with Lord Charles Cavendish, to her heartbreaking pregnancies, her experience during the Great Depression, and her contributions to the war effort during WWII in Ireland. 

Knight juxtaposes Adele’s ambitions of settling down and starting a family with Violet’s ambitions of pursuing her career on stage and reaching similar fame. I enjoyed the comparisons of two women in the same line of work but with opposite trajectories. Both women endure famous historical events, and I appreciate that readers get to see how the world’s bigger problems affect them. Additionally, each chapter features a snippet of what seems to be a gossip column in a newspaper, which was a nice touch that added more insight into how audiences perceived the performers.

While the novel offered an interesting take on the iconic dancer’s life, overall the story was underwhelming and the pacing was slow. Because Adele’s chapters are in first-person, I felt as if I was reading Adele Astaire’s diary. While not horrible, the problem is that her story does not lead into any big climactic moment. There’s no build up to a “big moment” and consequently, no resolution. Additionally, Violet’s chapters are in third-person. While I understand that this is so that the reader can easily distinguish which woman’s POV we are reading, I wish more effort was made to give Violet a different voice. But seeing as the plot is weaker without Violet’s POV, I’m grateful that she was in it at all. 

Eliza Knight joins us for a Cantina Conversation to talk about her experiences as a published writer and why she decided to get into historical fiction. Keep an ear out for the interview in an upcoming episode of The Nerd Cantina Show podcast and preorder Starring Adele Astaire, available June 6.