A present-day librarian falls from the Hollywood Sign and awakens in 1953, where she is mistaken for a rising star who has disappeared under mysterious circumstances and must find out what happened to her to get back to her own time.
Description
Fame is a dangerous game.
As her brother lies in a coma after a near-fatal car accident, twenty-two-year-old Grace Brighton climbs the Hollywood Sign to make a desperate wish for his recovery. She loses her footing and plummets to the ground below—only there is no impact. Instead, she finds herself the center of attention at a film studio . . . in 1953 Hollywood. Everyone believes she's Alice Montgomery, a rising star she bears an eerie resemblance to, who disappeared just days earlier.
Grace has no choice but to step into Alice's shoes. Meeting Alice’s entourage and noticing not everyone is happy that she is back, Grace begins to suspect that something terrible has happened to the young actress. Afraid Alice’s miraculous return has now made her a target, Grace must find out who wants to harm Alice to find her way back to her own time. When she discovers one of the missing starlet's deepest, darkest secrets, Grace finds herself in grave danger—she may die long before she’s even been born.
Reviews
“All in Hollywood might not be gold, but Jennifer Murgia’s new book definitely is. A thrilling, high-stakes super-fun ride, the gifted Murgia takes no prisoners in this heart-felt, heart-thumping novel.” —Carrie Jones, internationally & NYT bestselling author of the NEED series
“Murgia's When I Was Alice is a sparkling, suspenseful ode to the Golden Age of Hollywood as seen through the eyes of her compellingly modern heroine, Grace. As Grace finds herself torn between the desire to get back to her own time to save her brother and solving the mystery of what really happened to the doomed starlet everyone seems to think she is, Murgia weaves a clever, genre-bending whodunnit fleshed out by a cast of quirky characters, a vibrant setting, and a star-crossed romance. I was hooked from the very first page.” —Jenny Adams, author of A Deadly Endeavor
“When I Was Alice offers masterful prose and an immersive setting, transporting you to the heart of old Hollywood, and wrapping you in an enthralling, time-bending mystery. You won't be able to put this book down until the final, breathtaking reveal.” —Katlyn L. Duncan, author of Her Buried Lives
“Like an immersive, romantic whodunnit episode of Quantum Leap, When I Was Alice drew me in and left me desperate for a sequel!” —Gretchen McNeil, author of Ten and #murdertrending
“A haunting thriller of a book—Murgia delivers a timeslip whodunnit, immersing us in old Hollywood’s glitter and glamour while exposing its darkest undercurrents.” —Lisa Amowitz, author of An Island Strange and Wild
“[A] genre-bending time-travel tale that melds mystery and romance in glittering Old Hollywood . . . VERDICT: At once frothy and dark, this book will appeal to mystery and thriller fans who loved TV’s Quantum Leap, the “Outlander” series, or the works of Susanna Kearsley.” —Library Journal