The story opens in 1939, when World War II is starting. Twelve-year-old Eva Logan Acton and her waitress mother Hazel are the 'secret family' of English professor Edgar Acton.
Edgar has a 'real' wife and daughter in classy Windsor, Ohio, and visits his clandestine family twice a week. When Edgar's wife dies, Hazel drives Eva to Windsor and leaves the girl at Edgar's house as she drives away for good.
Eva is accepted into Edgar's household, and is impressed by her beautiful 16-year-old half-sister Iris, who's a frequent prize winner at contests in "elocution, rhetoric, dramatic readings, poetry readings, patriotic essays and dance."
Edgar is a caring father, but morally challenged, and he steals Iris's stash of prize money.
Outraged, Iris finds a new hiding place for her winnings, but constantly fears for it's safety.
By the time Iris is 18 she's had enough of Edgar and Ohio, and - hoping to launch a show business career - decides to head for Hollywood. Iris sneaks away in the middle of the night, taking her 14-year-old sister Eva with her.
In Hollywood, Iris works hard to break into the movies, starting with walk-ons and tiny speaking parts. Then, just as Iris is poised for a breakthrough, she gets involved in a lesbian love affair that becomes a public scandal.
The uproar scotches Iris's acting career, and she and Eva struggle to get by. The girls are helped by a kind landlady and a sympathetic homosexual make-up artist named Francisco Diego.
Iris and Eva's father Edgar now shows up, and a confluence of circumstances sends Iris, Eva, Edgar, and Francisco to New York City.
There, a wealthy Long Island couple - Joe and Anna Torelli - hire Edgar to be their butler and Iris to be their children's governess.
The Actons are allowed to live in the Torelli's carriage house, which works out well all around.
Teenage Eva, who hasn't attended school since she left Ohio, gets a part-time job in a beauty salon run by Francisco's sisters. Eva supplements her meager salary with petty theft and - eventually - tarot card reading in the salon. Eva is intuitive and clever and knows how to make up predictions her clients want to hear, like "you'll meet a wonderful man; you'll get pregnant; your deceased relative is happy in heaven, etc."
The Actons become acquainted with all the Torellis and their employees, and Iris falls in love with the family cook Reenie Heitmann, who's married to handyman Gus.
Iris pines for her crush night and day, and this infatuation spawns unfortunate consequences for a number of people. Meanwhile dad Edgar is smitten with a black nightclub singer named Clara Williams, who suffers from vitiligo.
As events unfold, Eva - who's the most responsible of the Actons - is compelled to take on adult responsibilities way before she should. To say more would be giving away too much.
The story covers a span of ten years, from 1939 to 1949, and German people in America, such as Gus Heitmann, are subject to suspicion, prejudice, and worse during wartime. Aside from that, most of the protagonists seem to be relatively unaffected by the fighting.
WW II German internment camp in America
The story is told from the perspective of a number of characters - including Eva, Iris, Gus, Clara, and others - and incorporates letters the protagonists write when they're separated. This works well since the novel is character-driven, and there's a diverse array of interesting 'voices.'
This is a compelling, thought-provoking - and occasionally funny - story, recommended to readers who enjoy historical literary novels.
Rating: 4 stars
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