Tag: ghostwriting

The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers by Sarah Tomlinson

- Stephanie Leave a comment

The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers by Sarah Tomlinson is the story of Mari Hawthorn, a ghostwriter hired to write a tell-all memoir that could make or break her career. Her last book contract didn’t end well so when she’s contacted about ghostwriting for Anke Berben, a famous model and fashion/style icon whose fame began in the 1960s, Mari must tread carefully. Anke was associated with three members of the rock band, The Midnight Ramblers. She had romances with all three members, Mal, Dante, and Jack, grabbing headlines and stirring controversies for years. The men were famous on stage and off, weaving tangled webs of relationships, betrayals, and secrets. The biggest mystery: the death of Mal in 1969. Mal was the band’s lead singer and Anke’s husband at the time of his death. He was found floating in a swimming pool with massive quantities of drugs and alcohol in his system.

Coming up on the 50th anniversary of Mal’s death, Anke’s memoir has the possibility to clear up all the rumors. Did he kill himself or was he murdered? Did Anke have something to do with his death or was it someone else in the band? Everyone in the band has kept silent for decades. As Anke’s ghostwriter, Mari needs to convince her to share stories that will make her memoir what people expect. In addition to writing Anke’s story, Mari is determined to find the truth about Mal’s death. After suffering a setback while writing Anke’s memoir, Mari decides to work her way into the world of the band. Their charm and fame enchant Mari, luring her into a false sense of security where she is tempted to compromise herself.

The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers is described as perfect for fans of Daisy Jones & The Six, Almost Famous, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. This doesn’t quite lift to that level for me, but I still enjoyed the stories told by the band members and their entourage. I felt like this book was missing something, but I can’t put my finger on it. I had difficulty connecting to the characters at their current ages, but the stories and flashes to the past hooked me in. It’s not for me, but I know many others who would enjoy this.

Writers as Main Characters

- Beth Leave a comment

There is a long history of novels that have writers as the protagonist. Just look at Jo March from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, published in 1868. In that classic, Jo writes plays to perform with her sisters, sensational stories for tabloid-like newspapers, and eventually, longer manuscripts that get published as books.

Modern authors continue to use writers as main characters. Here are a few newer titles on our Davenport Public Library shelves.  (Descriptions provided by publisher)

The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor – The once-rising literary star Olivia Fitzgerald is down on her luck. Her most recent novel, a retelling of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, was a flop, and she’s battling a bad case of writer’s block. When her agent calls her with a high-paying ghostwriting opportunity, Olivia is all too willing to sign the NDA. At first, the write-for-hire job seems too good to be true. All she has to do is interview Henry “Ash” Asherwood, a reclusive mega billionaire, twice named People’s Sexiest Man Alive, who wants her help in writing a book that reveals a shocking secret about his late grandmother and Daphne du Maurier. But the more Olivia digs into his grandmother’s past, the more questions she has, and before she knows it, she’s trapped in a gothic mystery of her own.

The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly – Fifty years ago, Sir Frank Churcher wrote The Golden Bones. Part picture book, part treasure hunt, he created a fairy story about Elinore, a murdered woman whose skeleton was scattered all over England. Clues and puzzles in the pages of The Golden Bones led readers to seven sites where jewels were buried – gold and precious stones, each a different part of a skeleton. One by one, the tiny golden bones were dug up until only Elinore’s pelvis remained hidden. The book is being reissued along with a new treasure hunt and a documentary crew are charting everything that follows. During the filming, Frank finally reveals the whereabouts of the missing golden bone. And then all hell breaks loose.

Writers & lovers by Lily King – In the summer of 1997, Casey Peabody works on the novel she’s been writing for six years. At thirty-one, Casey is still clutching onto something nearly all her old friends have let go of: the determination to live a creative life. When she falls for two very different men at the same time, her world fractures even more. Casey’s fight to fulfill her creative ambitions and balance the conflicting demands of art and life is challenged in ways that push her to the brink. Writers & Lovers follows Casey – a smart and achingly vulnerable protagonist – in the last days of a long youth, a time when every element of her life comes to a crisis.