Barbara's life has rarely been glamorous. The unease of her early childhood is a result of her father's career as an engineer for the Manhattan Project. She slowly loses the hope that the atomic bomb would create positive change after World War II, and her childhood is further upended when her mother dies by suicide. Joni Murphy (Talking Animals; Double Teenage) creates a complex, intimate portrait of Barbara's journey to stardom through Cold War political paranoia and into the late-20th century.
Untethered from her youthful naïveté and home, Barbara decides to move to New York City, where she stumbles upon and subsequently falls in love with acting. From adolescence to adulthood, Barbara discloses her innermost thoughts. "In the mirror I saw that ineffable feminine glow.... My starvation and pills kept my neck and collarbones fragile. What could all this be worth? A life on the stage? A series of destinations? I was bent on finding out." Murphy illuminates the charmed and challenging aspects of Barbara's life in this thorough character study of an alluring and complicated subject.
Barbara's career and romantic relationships take her to places such as Amsterdam, France, and Greece. Her experiences with her family, men, and the silver screen reveal aspects of her identity, although the glow of her ascent is constantly dulled by her recurring struggle to understand her father's career and involvement with such a devastating weapon. Murphy's prose is diary-like, inviting readers into Barbara's captivating confidence. Complete with photographs of scenes and settings from the era, the first-person narrative explores identity, tragedy, and the interconnected personal and political hardships of Barbara's life. --Clara Newton, freelance reviewer