The Show Girl

June 28, 2021
Harrison’s stirring latest (after Montauk) follows the coming-of-age of a young Ziegfeld Follies star. Singer and dancer Olive McCormick, 20, moves from Minneapolis to New York City in 1927 after giving up her baby girl for adoption. Olive had become pregnant after being duped into sex by a man who falsely promised to get her a job with the Ziegfeld Follies, and the delivery resulted in a torn uterus. Facing poverty, Olive left for New York to chase her dream. After impressing Mr. Ziegfeld, she finds fame as flirty, negligee-clad Olive Shine of Ziegfeld’s new risqué supper club; her acts are fresh and innovative, and success follows, replete with a Fifth Avenue apartment and adoring men. Olive gets engaged to wealthy businessman Archie Carmichael, but she hasn’t told him she won’t be able to have more children and, fearing his reaction, breaks up with him. Archie and Mr. Ziegfeld lose everything in the 1929 crash, and Olive scrapes by, working in a nightclub. When Olive decides to tell Archie the truth, it marks a pivotal turning point in their lives. Vintage Follies glamour is made lush and evocative, and is complemented by meaty explorations of hardships faceed by women living in the era. Olive is a rebel worth rooting for and she’ll keep readers turning the pages.

December 1, 2021

Imani Jade Powers inhabits Olive McCormick, the titular character of Harrison's (Montauk) latest novel, who tells her own story in the first person. Growing up in a conservative Minnesota family, Olive dreams of stardom, singing, and dancing, and schemes to land a coveted spot as a Ziegfeld Follies girl. She achieves that dream, but not without consequences. Powers uses subtle accents and a slight breathiness at times to convey Olive's determination and self-absorption set against a backdrop of 1920s Broadway glamour, bohemian Greenwich Village, and the luxuriousness of the Adirondack retreats of the super-wealthy, teetering on the edge of the Great Depression. Touches of thematic music that bracket the entire narration and a historical note at the novel's end add extra credibility. VERDICT Recommended for readers who enjoy a decisive and talented, but sometimes very flawed heroine, as well as stories set during the 1920s and a peek at the Ziegfeld Follies.--David Faucheux, Lafayette, LA

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