Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars audiobook

In a flat above a Turkish cafe lives Anna Treadway a dresser at the Galaxy Theatre.When an American actress disappears after an evenings performance at the Galaxy the newspapers speculate about her fate. But as the news grows old and the case gets colder, Anna is the only person determined to find out the truth. The investigation will take Amma to an England she has not yet discovered.I loved this well written novel set in Soho I 1965.I would like to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins UK and the author Miranda Emmerson for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was given an advanced reading copy of this book in return for a fair and honest review. Anna Treadway is a dresser at the Galaxy, a small London theatre. Anna’s current ‘charge’ is the American actress Iolanthe Green. One evening after a performance, Iolanthe and Anna exchanged parting pleasantries saying that they would see each other again on Monday but after that Anna never saw the actress again. Frustrated with the police’s lack of interest in the case, Anna takes it upon herself to do some investigating herself. Having led a fairly sheltered life, Anna finds that the glossy ‘swinging sixties’ appearance London gives to the outside world has another side, a dark side that has jazz clubs, backstreet doctors and institutionalised racism – certainly not the London that is portrayed to the outside world. The story had me hooked right from the very start. The story is not only a mystery but in my opinion a story about self – discovery and that things and people are not always what they seem. The theme of re-invention is important and sometimes people need to re-invent themselves in order to move on and escape their past. Some part of the books shocked me – particularly the racism and the stigma of single parenthood, seeing that the book was set only 50 years ago. Other parts of the book will moved me and other parts will stay with me for a long time. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to other readers particularly those who enjoyed novels such as ‘ Britt Marie was here’, ‘ The love song of Miss Queenie Hennessey’ and ‘ The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’.

While it took me a little while to get into this story, by halfway through the book I couldn't put the book down. It wasn't what I expected, but that's okay because Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is more literary and substantial than I thought it would be. It sounds like a mystery, and along the way a lot is revealed, but it’s more about the people in the story rather than a crime that needs solving. Characters are one of its strengths and they include Anna with her secrets, an Irish police officer trying to appear British and his unhappy wife, the Turkish family who run the restaurant Anna lives above, and a black Jamaican accountant who wants to fit in. It’s set in 1965 so there are references to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Carnaby Street, but it’s not a lighthearted swinging sixties story. Instead it explores themes like racism, classism, immigration, and repression. The writing is atmospheric and full of mood-setting description that's lush and gritty, heartwarming and heartbreaking. I read an advanced review copy of this book supplied to me at no cost and with no obligation by the publisher. Review opinions are mine.

Visit the locations at the Literary Travel Agency Miss Treadway's London A real gem and hidden find of a novel for I picked this up expecting one thing and totally got another,more brilliant read!Full review to come in January but have to say this is a very cinematic read - and quite a novel!. Never before have the swinging sixties been so clearly and cleverly evoked. I’m not old enough to have lived through this time but now I genuinely feel I have! It read like memories, like a faded photo of another time. The nuances and the feel for the detail, the delight and the shadows are just so brilliantly woven into a mystery of a novel.There's so much more to this that the blurb suggests and the delight is finding it out for yourself.

What is this about?: It is on the surface, about the search for Iolanthe Green, an actress who disappears during her play’s run in London. Anna, who is her costumer and friend, goes on a search for her.What else is this about?: It’s about characters who are “other”: whether they are a woman, Black, Irish or Muslim. How do they fit into London in 1965. What do they do to do so?Despite the lyrical title and the promise of a mystery, Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is hardly a conventional read.Sure, there’s a mystery, but London and the characters that inhabit it and cross Anna’s path as she searches for Iolanthe are the heart of this story. This is a story about what people do to fit in instead of embracing who they are and standing out – but that sentiment is from someone who can look back at a time they’ve never lived in… and even as I write that, it occurs to me: isn’t that what people are still trying to do today?SecretsEveryone has their secrets, some more shocking than others. But, Emmerson’s writing is restrained and focused so that their secrets are not sensationalised – instead, they appear within the narrative making you go “oh” and forcing you to readjust your thinking about the characters. I think I like that. But I also think I would have liked to have known Anna and some other characters more. Perhaps, this could have done with a smaller cast of characters, with more depth to each than they currently have.I think this is more a literary story than a mystery, with slower pacing that doesn’t lend itself to the tension you’d expect to find in a mystery. Or to be more accurate, that I want tend to lean towards in my reading. But, it is a book that I found myself contemplative about. There’s a rich cast of characters here, and Emmerson builds a complicated, diverse world around them.

Miss Treadway And The Field Of StarsByMiranda EmersonWhat it's all about...So what we have here in this gem of a book is a missing person. Iolanthe Green is not a famous movie star but she is well known in her little part of the London theatre. One evening she walks out of the theatre door and becomes one of the missing. No clues...no reasons...just vanishes into the night. How many secrets is she keeping? Why I wanted to read it...So...the part of this book that was fascinating to me was the little band of weird "warriors" that are determined to find out what happened to Iolanthe. We have Anna her dresser at the theatre, an Irish policeman, a coffee house owner, his daughter, and finally an accountant. They sort of band together to solve this very intriguing mystery.What made me truly enjoy this book...I enjoyed this book because of these characters...they were quirky, lively, unique and fascinating. Why you should read it, too...Readers who love sort of cozy yet odd English mysteries should enjoy this book. I don't like to share too much of what happens in a mystery. Just know that this one was fun, easy to read and really hard to put down. It was different and that just captured my interest more and more!

Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is as English a book as you can find. From the darling title to the story of ordinary people going to extraordinary lengths out of a sense of duty to each other and to their ideals, it is a very English book, rich in English culture and values. Yet, every character in the book is an immigrant, even the unstoppable Miss Treadway. This may be Miranda Emmerson’s first novel, but she writes with the confidence and sure-footedness of long experience.Anna Treadway is a dresser for the fabulous American actress, Iolanthe Green, who mysteriously disappeared one night, walking back to her hotel from the theater. Anna, who moved to London from Wales, is determined to find her, believing the police are simply not doing enough. She lives above a cafe run by Ottmar, an immigrant from Turkey. She had worked at the cafe when she first came to London and Ottmar has a soft spot in his heart for her. On the part of the police, Barnaby Hayes, an immigrant from Ireland, is working harder than Anna supposes, his devotion to his work supplanting his devotion to his wife and daughter. In her investigations, Anna meets Aloysius, an immigrant from Jamaica, whose aspirations are as country-home British as they come.I loved Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars but probably not for obvious reasons. The mystery is more a game of tag and there is an extraordinary number of people being in the same place at the same time and despite Miss Treadway and Inspector Hayes worries about “why women disappear” there is not much suspense or tension in the mystery. But then, I am not convinced that the mystery is the point of this novel at all.Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is about identity and belonging. It is about how people reinvent themselves. It’s no spoiler to inform you that nearly every character has two names. There’s Barnaby (Brennan), Iolanthe (Yolanda), and Aloysius (Louis) and even Miss Treadway has a surprise or two, or three. This is a story of immigrants assimilating. When the Jamaica-born Aloysius is brutalized by racist police, it does not matter than he is a “suit-wearing, tea-drinking, Financial Times and Evelyn Waugh reading man of London town.” He is black and though “the man in his head had become far whiter” that is not the man the police see.Anna Treadway finds her own identity in question, her faith in institutions crumbling in the face of injustice. Emmerson described it as feeling as though “somehow the institutions belonged to her. She had a sense of ownership” of the social, political, legal institutions of the country. She also wrote about Anna wondering how Aloysius perceived her skin color, was it as evident to him as his was to her or did her pale complexion signify “the blankness of a slate?” The phrase “white privilege” raises so many hackles, but perhaps Emmerson’s descriptions, the sense of ownership of the kingdom’s institutions, the blankness of the slate–a slate clear of negative stereotypes in the minds of police, for example. It was heartening to see new metaphors for privilege that perhaps are more effective because they don’t trigger defensiveness so quickly.The characters in Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars are interesting, complex, and everything that matters to the story. There’s a bit of unlikely coincidence, but it is such perfect coincidence, that I embrace it all.Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars will be released February 27, 2017. I received an advance e-galley from the publisher through Edelweiss.★★★★★http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpres...

A fantastic read that both highlights prejudice of the past and how it may or may not be different today, and paint an accurate and skilled picture of London as a city.I got Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars from a giveaway on here, and thought that the 1960s London setting and the premise of two female main characters sounded interesting. As it suggested, both Anna and Iolanthe are intriguing characters, from the initial pages which show them just before Iolanthe goes missing until the end. The supporting characters are vital to this novel, with a wide range of different people with different backgrounds and viewpoints showing the diversity of the city and the extent of prejudice and injustice that can occur in different ways. The problems facing Aloysius, Ottmar, Leonard, and the Hayes family are all very different, but the way in which Emmerson weaves their stories into the plot highlights how, just like the main two characters, these people are trying to find their place or keep their place in their world and in this society, even when people don't want them to. Their situations are easily comparable to modern events and attitudes, with readers left with facing the fact that the intolerance shown by characters in the novel is not so different today in many ways.The depiction of London in the novel was particularly notable, presented as a city both vibrant and metropolitan, full of opportunity and different people and culture, and full of darkness and danger, with racism and brutality lurking. At one point Anna does not know if she loves or hates London, which felt to me like a very good description of the city, a place which can feel very varied depending on circumstance and location. As someone who has lived in London (and worked in a theatre there), Emmerson's presentation of the city and how people see it felt relatable, with characters looking for hope and freedom and escape and money within one city, full of flaws but also opportunity. The representation of the media, through the newspaper articles and how the press's attention is easily diverted by more shocking news and murder, felt like a sharp comment on how the media's techniques and focus are not particularly different these days, though they may have more technology at their disposal. Though the idea of fame was not particularly focused on, the way in which a celebrity may create different versions of themselves, and how this could be similar to other people doing the same, was an interesting point in the book.The plot is fairly easy to work out once details have been revealed and characters introduced, but the structure allows for slow revelations, meaning that the mystery is not instantly solved. The characters give the plot its real life, as they are fleshed out and believably flawed and secretive. The writing style makes the book easy to get into and enjoyable to read, with moments of great description, particularly of location.Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is a very good book for anyone who enjoys period-set mysteries that allow you to think about both that time and the present. Fans of London period TV shows such as The Hour will enjoy this book too, with its well-written characters and look at the darker sides of post-war society.

A very meaningful and enjoyable novel that at first seems like a straightforward detective mystery but you realize it's less a crime story and more of a exploration of the immigrant experience.The story was so well written that I couldn't believe Miranda Emerson was a first time novelist. I can't wait to see what the author has in store for her next novel.

**GOODREADS WIN - RATING 4.5**MISS TREADWAY & THE FIELD OF STARS by Miranda Emmerson is a deeply emotive mystery that will make you stop in your tracks, and soak in every word and description. Anna Treadway is working as a dresser for Iolanthe Green when Iolanthe disappears one evening after a show, and Anna fears for her safety. As time passes and it looks like nobody cares about Iolanthe anymore, Anna takes the matter into her own hands and begins her own investigation, which will open her eyes to a more realistic and harsh side of London and the people who live there. From deep rooted hate and animosity, to finding new connections that may not make sense but exist nevertheless, we follow Anna and a motley crew of assorted characters as they travel far and wide to piece together the puzzle of the mystery that is Iolanthe, discovering some honest and sometimes uncomfortable truths about themselves in the process. MISS TREADWAY & THE FIELD OF STARS by Miranda Emmerson is filled with excellent characters (if not always likeable) and perfectly depicts the different sides of London's personality, both beautiful and terrifying, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The ending was a little bit abrupt for me but only because I really wanted to learn more about what happens to Anna in the future - I'm greedy like that! (less)