in her hometown of Mobile, Alabama, where she works as a barre instructor. She is of Lebanese heritage and is one of the co-hosts of @hfchitchat on Twitter, a recurring monthly chat and community celebrating the love of reading and writing historical fiction.
Saab applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Star Society, and shared the following:
Page 69 of The Star Society falls in a very satisfying place: the beginning of a chapter, Chapter 9. This novel is about two sisters, Ada and Ingrid, and is told from both their perspectives. Chapter 9 is from Ingrid’s perspective, the first paragraph of which reads as follows:Visit Gabriella Saab's website.After last night’s conversation with her sister, Ingrid has not yet notified Crenshaw of her success, despite the condition placed upon her investigation. For a time, their reunion is theirs alone. Now that she has made contact, the real work will begin—inserting herself into Ada’s world, meeting Ada’s friends, exploring every rumor, securing an invitation to Ada’s Star Society, uncovering the truth about the organization. Everything she is determined to do to protect her sister from the threats overtaking her industry. Everything Crenshaw believes she will be unable to do.This paragraph sums up the premise of the novel almost perfectly: the year is 1946, and Ingrid is a private investigator. During the war, she lost touch with her sister, Ada, but now that communist influences are thought to be overtaking Hollywood, Ingrid has been sent to investigate an actress, Ada, who is suspected of communist ties and who hosts a social group, known as the Star Society, which is thought to be a communist front organization.
Right away, Ingrid realizes this actress is her sister, and she is determined to protect Ada from the threat of communism. Ingrid’s employer, Crenshaw, has allowed her one week to make contact with Ada, and if she fails, she will be replaced. She is a woman, so naturally he expects her to fail. But making contact is much easier for Ingrid than Crenshaw realizes, considering this actress is her sister. Still, Ingrid must handle the situation delicately. If her employer finds out she’s investigating her own relative, she will be replaced, then she will not be able to protect Ada from the communist threats. Neither can she tell her sister what she’s actually doing in Hollywood, because with this assignment comes strict orders of confidentiality.
The novel is about the bond of sisterhood as they wrestle the lingering effects of war and the fear and paranoia that overtook Hollywood during the rise of the Red Scare, and I think the Page 69 Test works very well. This page captures Ingrid’s commitment to her work as well as her unwavering loyalty to her sister. This bond is what carries both women through the events of the story even as both wrestle with moral complexities such as the one Ingrid is facing in this chapter.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
