We may think we’ve read all there is to read about World War II, but Anthony Marry has discovered and brought to life a segment that this reader has not seen before… what happened in Hollywood. While it is a war story, it’s more an immigrant’s tale, following well drawn, fascinating characters as they traverse from Nazi controlled Italy to the bright lights.
Marra braids the stories of Mercury Pictures a B grade movie house and the feuding twin brothers who run Mercury with stories from Hollywood personalities, overbearing politicians and displaced immigrants trapped in wartime quarantine. His characters include a photographer, an architect specializing in miniatures, a clever guilt-ridden daughter of the best lawyer in San Lorenzo, and a supporting cast of aunts, politicians, and ladder climbers to create an extensive though brilliant cast of characters. Throughout the story, Marra’s fresh language, sharp wit, and humor from a time where we’ve been conditioned to find none, carries a story threatens to break the reader. As it is, the humanity holds both the novel and the reader together. It’s simply brilliant.
Mercury Pictures Presents was released on August 2, 2022. Thanks to the publisher, Random House Hogarth for this advanced readers copy.
