The Girl in the White Gloves

The Girl in the White Gloves by Kerri Maher  384 pages

 

Most of us know Hollywood icon and Her Serene Highness, Princess Grace of Monaco, from her movies. However, she was also known for Broadway roles and early, live  television roles. I’m not sure how I thought Grace landed the coveted roles in “Rear Window,”  “Dial M for Murder,” “To Catch a Thief “ and “High Society,” but she always had the allure of never having to struggle.

 

This novel, author Kerri Maher’s second, takes Kelly’s on-screen persona and smashes it to pieces. Maher takes readers on Grace’s a journey from an ordinary young woman trying to find her way in the world into what it must have been like to become one of the most admired, and sought after, women in the world. This is a human story; a real-life story.

 

The plot is non-linear; the story jumping around in time. If readers pay close attention, they can spot the patterns the time-frame creates. The transitions from year to year happen seamlessly; a feat for any writer. Personally, I felt that the time shifts gave readers a break from the normalcy and the exotic. Readers get to know plain Grace Kelly and her rather humble beginnings in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to her move to New York, to her adventures in Hollywood, and to abandoning stardom for a real-life role as Princess .

 

I was heartbroken to read of her unhappiness with her Prince and how she felt that she had abandoned herself to serve the citizens of Monaco. The fairy tale courtship doesn’t seem that magical now.

 

I was surprised to learn that Grace’s life has been well-documented; I always saw her cool, calm and collected. That is one of the reasons I found her sexual encounters uncomfortable. I didn’t see her as a human being—and all that goes with it---before. Therefore, “The Girl in the White Gloves” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.