Alda was certain that Luca had sent the snow and painted the world just for her.
She was grateful.
The flurry was a reminder of the love Luca and she had shared, the friendships they had made, and the work that had given their lives purpose and meaning. And when Alda was sad and she longed for Luca, she would remember the joy that filled their days, the serenity that filled their nights, in a place that belonged to them, and only to them, on a mountaintop covered in snow, in a time known as the golden age of Hollywood.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This novel is dedicated to Mary J. Farino an Italian-American girl, (1905–1985), my great aunt, a wonderful single mother of two sons, a machine operator in a blouse mill, an exceptional Italian cook, and a fan of movies made during the golden age of Hollywood. I wish I could take you back to her home on Garibaldi Avenue in Roseto, Pennsylvania. It was a work of art. She lived in the family homestead all of her life, a two-family red-brick house with a striped awning over a long front porch. When you entered, there was a hallway back to a bright kitchen where you would find Aunt Mary at the stove. The house was always pristine, every surface gleamed, and no matter how busy she might be, she found time to sit down for a cup of coffee and a chat on her sunporch.
Mary Farino was a small-town girl, but she liked to travel and she often took trips with my grandmother, Viola. She had a wicked sense of humor and an unflinching view of people and the world. Her manner of speaking came straight out of an Anita Loos script. She’d call a particular kind of a lady a jezebel, another a dame, a certain kind of gentleman a duke or a different type a chiseler and when I’d ask what those words meant, I’d get a lesson in the movies directed by Frank Capra or George Stevens or Preston Sturges. When I was a girl in the 1970s, we’d watch black-and-white movies on television that she had seen in the theater when they first ran in the 1930s and ’40s. From her living room, Aunt Mary introduced me to the work of the players in this novel and set me on a path to aspire to write their style of snappy dialogue. Her passion for movies made during the golden age became mine. I thank her with great love.
Many minds, hearts, and hard work go into the publication of a novel.
I am deeply grateful to the brilliant team at HarperCollins, led by Brian Murray and Michael Morrison, who support our efforts with gusto.
Jonathan Burnham, my editor and publisher, is the best in the business. He edits as he publishes, with wisdom, restraint, and humor. I adore him. Maya Ziv, Jonathan’s excellent right arm, is magnificent. Thank you Jennifer Civiletto and Gina Forsythe for making all the necessary connections and quickly.
Our marketing and publicity teams are inventive, energetic, and tireless. Thank you Kathy Schneider, Tina Andreadis, Kate D’Esmond, Leah Wasielewski, Renata Marchione, Katie O’Callaghan, Jennifer Murphy, Mary Ann Petyak, and Tom Hopke Jr. Virginia Stanley is a treasure; she brings authors and libraries together like matches and firecrackers and has for over twenty years. Viva Virginia! Her superb team includes: Annie Mazes, Amanda Rountree, Louisa Hager.
The glorious artists who create the cover and interior art are Robin Bilardello, Joanne O’Neill, and Gregg Kulick. I am crazy for the gold stars on the cover art that look like the pastina my mother made for us when we were kids.
Our hardworking and delightful sales force includes Doug Jones, Mary Beth Thomas, Andrea Rosen, Kathryn Walker, Michael Morris, Kristin Bowers, Austin Tripp, Christy Johnson, Brian Grogan, Tobly McSmith, Lillie Walsh, Rachel Levenberg, Frank Albanese, David Wolfson, and Samantha Hagerbaumer. The great ladies of paperbacks are Amy Baker, Mary Sasso, and Kathryn Ratcliffe-Lee. We are grateful to our bookstores, online vendors, and libraries everywhere.
Our superb production team is Cindy Achar, John Jusino, Miranda Ottewell, Leah Carlson-Stanisic, and William Ruoto. In the audio department, Katie Ostrowka and Blair Brown delivered the stars in these particular heavens with audible dazzle.
At William Morris Endeavor, I am grateful to a team that works on two coasts with the precision of the gears of a Swiss watch—though I think not one is of Swiss descent, but many have visited—my thanks and love to the dynamic beauty Suzanne Gluck, Clio Seraphim, Kitty Dulin, Eve Attermann, Alicia Gordon, Sasha Elkin, Joey Brown, Tracy Fisher, Alli Dyer, Cathryn Summerhayes, and Siobhan O’Neill. In film and television, I am represented by my lifelong beautiful sister Nancy Josephson, her trusty Ellen Sushko, and the great minds of the film department led by Graham Taylor and including Michelle Bohan, Joanna Korshak, Chris Slager, Liesl Copland, Alli Mcardle; when it comes to putting it all to music, Amos Newman and Lauren Danielak do the job. Thank you all.
At The Glory of Everything Company, my love and evermore thanks to the brilliant, beautiful, and forward-thinking Sarah Choi. Donielle Muransky stepped in between her own writing projects and jobs, saving the day and my sanity. Our interns and researchers were smart, funny, and hardworking, and are all on their way to superstardom: thank you Claire Zajdel, Hannah Drinkall, Annella Kaine, Maggie Kane, Sarabeth Bukowski, Lauren Weiger, Erin Cassidy, Olivia Olson, Arden Bastia, Elizabeth Kenney, Claire Bleecker, Monica Murphy, Michelle March, Jamise Stidham, Adeline Wilson, Jennifer Vosters, Daniela Cardinale, Samantha Rowe, and Jillian Fata.
Nancy Bolmeier Fisher is the executive director of The Origin Project, our in-school writing program in southwest Virginia that brings authors into the classroom to work with and inspire students to write their stories. In two years, Nancy has taken our program and grown it, serving hundreds of students with her energy, drive, and open heart. She’s a miracle and I’m proud to be her sidekick.
In Movieland, my thanks and love to Donna Gigliotti, Richard Thompson, Bryna Melnick, Helen Rosenberg, Jean Morrissey, Wade Bradley, and the team at Altar Identity Studios who brought you Big Stone Gap; Matthew T. Weiner, Darren Bartlett, Antony Platt, Reynaldo Villalobos, Don Bixby, Christopher Passig, Ben Bolling, Andrew J.D. Hauser, and Joe Rudge.
I have engaged the infinite resources of the brilliant mind of Larry Sanitsky of the Sanitsky Company too many times to count; consider me grateful and greedy.
At Picturehouse, my gratitude to Jeanne and Bob Berney, Marlee Chizari and their excellent team, and to Brian McNelis and Lakeshore Entertainment.
John Leventhal is a dream to work with and a brother in all other ways. Thank you Laura Bermudez, Joseph Craig, Rita McClenny, Andy Edmunds, Reuben Rios, and Michael Pitt. The Big Stone Gap team at Random House includes the hardworking and fabulous Libby McGuire, Kim Hovey, Anne Speyer, Paolo Pepe, and Beth Pearson.
At Simon & Schuster UK, I am proud to be published by Ian Chapman and edited by Suzanne Baboneau.
Gina Casella of AT Escapes at Adriana Trigiani Tours is a force of nature who continues to bring the novels to life around the world with magnificent tours in Italy, the UK and beyond, and here in New York City. Thank you Frank Dabell, Maria Perla, Emilia Grassi, Leonardo Marra, Ottavio Amendola, and Gabriele Massa; the memory of Costanzo Ruocco burns bright at Da Costanzo on Capri, now in Antonio’s and Alvina's excellent care. Antonia Trigiani does a fabulous job with our merchandise, and Mary Trigiani of Spada Inc. is our brilliant media advisor.
My evermore gratitude and love to Chris and Ed Muransky, Hoda Kotb, Jennifer Miller, Kathie Lee Gifford, Christine Gardner, Kathy Ryan, Tony Krantz and Kristen Dornig, Jan Allison, Brian Balthazar, Julie Durk, Nigel Stoneman, Charles Fotheringham, Christine Onorati, Dona DeSanctis, Monique Gibson, Bunny Grossinger, Kathy McElyea, Mary Murphy and Bob Minzenmeizer, Liza Persky, Lou and Berta Pitt, Doris Gluck, Mary Pipino, Tom Dyja, Liz Travis, Eamonn McChrystal, Diane and Dr. Armand Rigaux, Dagmara Domincyzk and Patrick Wilson, Dan and Robin Napoli, Louise and Len Riggio, Sharon Ewing, Robin Kall, Eugenie Furniss, Jane Krakowski, Philip Grenz, Christina Geist, Joyce Sharkey, Jack Hodgins, Jake Morrissey, Gail Berman, Debra McGuire, Cate Magennis Wyatt, Ian and Ryan Fisher, Carol and Dominic Vechiarelli, Jim and Mary Deese Hampton, Jackie and Paul Wilson, Greg D’Alessandro, Mark Amato, Meryl Poster, Sister Robbie Pentecost.
/> Heather and Peter Rooney, Aaron Hill and Susan Fales-Hill, Mary K. and John Wilson, Jim and Kate Benton Doughan, Ruth Pomerance, Joanna Patton and Bill Persky, Angelina Fiordellisi and Matt Williams, Michael La Hart and F. Todd Johnson, Richard and Dana Kirshenbaum, Marisa Acocella Marchetto, Violetta Acocella, and Emma and Tony Cowell.
Hugh and Jody Friedman O ’Neill, Nelle Fortenberry, Cara Stein, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Leonardis, Laura Monardo and Mario Natarelli, Rosalie Ciardullo, Dolores and Dr. Emil Pascarelli, Eleanor “Fitz” King and daughters Eileen, Ellen, and Patti, Sharon Hall and Todd Kessler, Aimee Bell, Rosanne Cash, Liz Welch Tirrell, Charles Randolph Wright, Constance Marks, Jasmine Guy, Mario Cantone and Jerry Dixon, Lee Boudreaux, Judy Rutledge, Greg and Tracy Kress, Father John Rausch, Judith Ivey, John Benjamin Hickey, Mary Ellen Keating.
Nancy Ringham Smith, Sharon Watroba Burns, Dee Emmerson, Elaine Martinelli, Kitty Martinelli (Vi and the girls), Sally Davies, Sister Karol Jackowski, Jane Cline Higgins, Betty Cline, Beth Vechiarelli Cooper (my Youngstown boss), Max and Robyn Westler, Gina Vechiarelli (my Brooklyn boss), Barbara and Tom Sullivan, Brownie and Connie Polly, Silas House and Jason Howard.
Catherine Brennan, Karen Fink, Beáta and Steven (the Warrior) Baker, Todd Doughty and Randy Losapio, Craig Fissé, Anemone and Steve Kaplan, Christina Avis Krauss and her Sonny, Veronica Kilcullen, Lisa Rykoski, Tara Fogarty, Eleanor Jones, Mary Ellinger, and Iva Lou Johnson.
Thank you Michael Patrick King. I hope everyone has a friend like you whom they can call any hour of the day or night and read aloud any lousy paragraph, relay any wild scheme, pitch any insane idea, and have it received with the support, grace, and love you have shown to me over these many years. When the call goes to voicemail, I will know the jig is up.
Cynthia Rutledge Olson, Mary Testa, Wendy Luck, Elena Nachmanoff, and Dianne Festa, there aren’t enough purses, jewels, or fancy shoes to fill your closets to express quite what you mean to me, but knowing you girls, you wouldn’t want the stuff anyway, so thank you.
We remember Ray Oleson (Kathy’s beloved) and J.T. Caruso (Barbara’s beloved), and Edward Feeley (my sister-in-law Tina's father) fine fathers, good men, terribly missed.
Thank you Ann Godoff for opening the door to my literary career and a life in the world of books.
I remember my aunt and godmother Geraldine Beaumont Bonicelli. She was a gorgeous and elegant lady who will live in my heart always, as will my aunt Irma Bonicelli Godfrey, who was beautiful and kind, and my mother’s most excellent sister.
Thank you Tim and Lucia, and our families, for everything.
There is no way to ever properly thank my mother Ida Bonicelli Trigiani for everything she is, for everything she has done, and for what she means to me. I am lucky to be her daughter.
If I may, one last story before you go. When I was a student at Saint Mary’s College in South Bend, Indiana in 1981, Sister Agnes Eugenia, a nun in full habit paid me a visit. She handed me an envelope; inside was an eight by ten photograph of a boy in a straw hat. The inscription read: Dear Sister Agnes Eugenia, Here I am, 4 years old. Mother said to please continue praying for us and our “Pa.” Big hugs. It was signed by his mother for him, John Clark, and dated 1965.
Sister Agnes had read a poem I had written about Clark Gable published in the school literary magazine and had sent it to Kay Gable, Mr. Gable’s widow and the mother of his son, John. Sister told me that Mrs. Gable had chuckled at the poem and was pleased that someone so young remembered her husband (not every girl had an Aunt Mary Farino!). Sister Agnes was getting on in years and wanted me to have the photograph. (No, I never asked Sister Agnes how she knew Mrs. Gable—the ignorance of youth!) I intended to meet Mrs. Gable someday, and promised Sister Agnes I would, but Mrs. Gable passed away in 1983 before we could meet. The photograph set me on the path to find out about the boy in the hat, his mother, and his father, which led me to the story you read herein, the stars I saw in these heavens, in my own particular way, out my own little window. This is the photograph that lit the spark that became this novel. Thank you, Sister Agnes Eugenia.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ADRIANA TRIGIANI is the author of fifteen bestsellers, including the blockbuster epic The Shoemaker’s Wife; the Big Stone Gap series; Lucia, Lucia; the Valentine series; the Viola series for young adults; and the bestselling memoir Don’t Sing at the Table. She is also the award-winning filmmaker of the documentary Queens of the Big Time. Trigiani wrote and directed the major motion picture Big Stone Gap, based on her debut novel. It was filmed entirely on location in her hometown, and was released in 2015. She lives in Greenwich Village with her family.
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ALSO BY ADRIANA TRIGIANI
FICTION
The Supreme Macaroni Company
The Shoemaker’s Wife
Brava, Valentine
Very Valentine
Home to Big Stone Gap
Rococo
The Queen of the Big Time
Lucia, Lucia
Milk Glass Moon
Big Cherry Holler
Big Stone Gap
YOUNG ADULT FICTION
Viola in Reel Life
Viola in the Spotlight
NONFICTION
Don’t Sing at the Table
Cooking with My Sisters (coauthor)
CREDITS
Cover design by Gregg Kulick
Cover photographs: © Underwood Archives/Getty Images (Hollywoodland sign); © by Lisa Thornberg/Getty Images (ribbon); © Time Life Pictures/Getty Images (light beams)
BACK AD
COPYRIGHT
All the Stars in the Heavens is a work of fiction. While many of the characters herein lived and worked during the Golden Age of Hollywood in and around the movie studios in Los Angeles, California, and some, like Loretta Young and Clark Gable, appeared in films, the scenes, events, moments, and leaps of storytelling exist only in the imagination of the author. Accordingly, All the Stars in the Heavens should be read solely as a work of fiction, not as a history or biographical account of the lives of any of the artisans who made movies, including the actors, their agents, bosses, secretaries, or family members. The author’s intent was to create a world to enchant and entertain, much like the fictional stories dramatized by the stars on the silver screen in the early days of Hollywood.
ALL THE STARS IN THE HEAVENS. Copyright © 2015 by The Glory of Everything Company. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Endpaper image © John Springer Collection/CORBIS
Photograph of John Clark Gable courtesy of Sister Agnes Eugenia S. J. and author’s private collection.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for
EPub Edition OCTOBER 2015 ISBN 9780062319210
ISBN: 978-0-06-231919-7 (hardcover)
15 16 17 18 19 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Adriana Trigiani, All the Stars in the Heavens
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