Novel set in rural Lincolnshire
Novel set in 1950s HOLLYWOOD and EALING (London)
24th April 2026
A beautiful Way to Die by Eleni Kyriacou, novel set in 1950s HOLLYWOOD and EALING
This novel underlines the patriarchal and abusive nature of the film industry in the 1950s. It is inspired by the true crime cases swept under the carpet by Hollywood, from the 1920s through to the 1950s, when Hollywood had a truly rotten heart. There were fixers who went to extreme lengths to keep reputations positive and keep terrible deeds that could have ruined careers, out of the headlines, resorting to nefarious and unbelievable actions. Essentially, they would go beyond the call of duty and fix things by any means possible. The casting couch was, of course, ubiquitous and the voices of women were drowned by male machinations and needs.
Stella Hope is a well-known actress who has been dismissed to London to work in the Ealing Studios. She is in theory part of a golden couple, married to Max but following a car accident (they were both in the car) their world has begun to fall apart.
In London, she befriends her make-up artist, Maggie, and they start to socialise, as the glitz and glamour, to 
which Stella is accustomed, simply isn’t really available. It transpires that Maggie has her own agenda, and at first Stella feels used and betrayed by Maggie’s evasive actions and downright lies but then comes to understand the full nature of her plight.
As the two women bond in London, the story of a starlet gets underway in Hollywood, a young woman who is determined to make it in Tinseltown, falling for an older man who seemingly promises her the earth and a career she can only dream of. Hollywood, however, has a thin veneer – “Beautiful from a distance, but rotten up close”
The two stories, of course, join up and there are some original twists and turns along the way. There is a real flavour of the era, the story feels like an unfolding Hollywood movie, the cosmetics used capture the feel of the period, with plenty of Pond’s Cold Cream and Youth Dew dotting the pages.
This is a sobering look at the world of cinema in the 1950s, and clearly significant vestiges and the misogynistic treatment of women from that period still echo through the industry today.
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