I almost always refrain from reading any reviews of a book before I read it, and certainly before I write my review, so as to give you a completely pure, uninfluenced opinion. Spoiler alert: this book took a turn I neither anticipated nor heard about. The title makes one think of tabloid headlines we see at the grocery store. I anticipated a book about the inner life of an Elizabeth Taylor-like figure. That in itself would have been interesting material with the right treatment. What I never saw coming was a Hollywood siren revealing her true bisexual nature, and that the love of her life was a fellow actress. The final twist I will leave unrevealed, as that is better enjoyed, and earned, after making your way through the book.

Taking the form of a series of interviews between up-and-coming junior staff writer Monique Grant, of a fictional style magazine, and a legendary, aging film star Evelyn Hugo, we learn the back story of the actress, her perspective and motivations for making the life choices that took her from Hell’s Kitchen to Hollywood, from poor to fabulously wealthy, from one marriage to the next. Why is Evelyn telling all now? And why does she select as her memoirist an unknown writer? What do we learn of Hugo, thought by most to be a sexpot, superficial star, unable to make a lasting commitment in her life?

Reid reveals a complex person in Hugo, a woman with the moxie and body to create fame, no matter the personal cost. A woman with few true friends, but three lasting, deep commitments, people for whom she would sacrifice anything. We learn how the media create their own narrative to sell copy, although by relying on hearsay, are often far from the truth. The stars are part of the deception, using the media for their own ends. The price of fame is the loss of any personal life, the constant scrutiny and dissection of your every move, the inability to trust others, the loss of privacy in all your most vulnerable, joyful, or grieving moments. Thought must constantly be given to appearances of all your choices, since they can damage your image, and thereby damage your box office prospects. Hugo paid a series of prices to have genuine love in her life, a child to love, a deep friendship, and one true love. Her tell-all reveals what she had to do to make this possible.

I especially enjoyed the role that Mick Riva played in Evelyn’s life, since I recently read and reviewed Reid’s Malibu Rising (Malibu Rising, by Taylor Jenkins Reid — Marguerite Reads), and Riva is a key character in that story. While Seven Husbands goes a bit heavy on the LGBTQ+ rights issue, one does wonder how many stars of yesterday had to hide lifestyle and identity choices that would have ruined their careers. Why does our society elevate these individuals, people who depict glamourous and idealized lives? Why do we put them in a box, and disallow them from living genuine lives? It is an interesting societal impulse, how we are fascinated, judgmental, even obsessed, with people we don’t even know, but believe we know, from their appearance in a movie. Something must happen when we watch a character in a story, that we feel we know that actor and can make judgements about their life. It is an interesting phenomenon, and makes this an interesting, enjoyable read. Recommended.