A Crown of Stars

The novel opens in July 1917 with Rita Jolivet, a famous actress, struggling in the gray waters of the Hudson River amid hundreds of screaming extras. She fights her way to an overturned lifeboat before the director calls "Cut!" and the scene is revealed to be the sinking sequence of Rita's film Lest We Forget. Asked if the scene is realistic, Rita replies flatly that it is close but different: The real water was colder, there were more people, and everyone on set is still alive. The novel traces the events that led her to this moment.

The story reaches back to the late 1800s at Winter Queen, an English country estate in Medmenham. Charles Jolivet, a successful French businessman, and his wife Pauline, a blue-blooded Parisian pianist, raise three children: Marguerite, the eldest and a natural leader who invents plays for her siblings; Inez, the dreamy middle child and gifted violinist; and Alfred, their adventurous youngest. At 14, Marguerite and Inez discover the drowned body of the gardener's son in the estate's koi pond, a traumatic image that scars Marguerite permanently.

Letters that Inez and Rita write to each other appear as epigraphs before certain chapters, reflecting on their shared past. In one, written after the sinking of the ocean liner Lusitania, Inez reflects on how she always lived in Marguerite's shadow, pretending to be brave because her sister was.

In 1901, Marguerite announces she wants to pursue Broadway. Pauline, who has been quietly planning her daughters' futures, redirects the ambition: Both sisters will relocate to London, Marguerite for the stage and Inez for violin instruction. Marguerite persuades the reluctant Inez that going together is better than being sent alone. In London, the sisters adopt new identities: Marguerite becomes Rita, and Inez takes the stage name Leigh. Rita buys them each a pearl-handled Browning pistol as a symbol of independence.

Rita auditions at the Catharine Theatre for a mediocre comedy called Good Girls Stay Home, lying about experience at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, then confessing the lie to prove her acting ability. She wins the role. Though the play receives scathing reviews, a critic singles out Rita's debut as a lone spark of beauty and delight, launching her career.

At a society party hosted by Mrs. Cornwallis-West (the former Jennie Jerome), each sister encounters a figure who will shape her future. Inez is seated beside George Vernon, a handsome American concert singer rumored to do secret government work, who charms her instantly. Rita meets Charles Frohman, a celebrated American theatrical impresario who has already seen her perform. A palm reader predicts great success for Rita but also a violence, though she will survive it.

Charles Frohman becomes Rita's mentor, casting her as Hero in director William Poel's production of Much Ado About Nothing, which cements her reputation. Meanwhile, George courts Inez with postcards from around the world and reappears at Sandringham House, where Inez performs for King Edward VII and the Russian tsar and tsarina. George eventually arrives unannounced, takes Inez to his own concert, and then to dinner. That night, Inez announces she intends to marry him. Despite Rita's concern about the courtship's speed, the wedding takes place in November 1903 at the Orangery at Kew Gardens.

During Poel's touring Romeo and Juliet production, Rita is rescued from an attack by Freddy Stern, a young carpenter in the company. Physical attraction leads to a hasty marriage, but within three months Rita recognizes the mismatch and secures a quiet annulment.

Charles Frohman brings Rita to Broadway, where she stars in Kismet and other hits, achieving stardom but feeling increasingly empty. Inez, now traveling the world with George, introduces Rita to Count Giuseppe de Cippico, a handsome Italian nobleman connected to the Italian film industry. Rita feels an immediate spark.

Rita relocates to Naples to make silent films while Giuseppe courts her. He warns that war is coming and urges her to accept Frohman's offer to star in The Unafraid in America. Rita resists his hints at marriage. Within weeks, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, and Europe descends into conflict.

In December 1914, Inez visits Rita in Los Angeles and reveals that Giuseppe is bringing an engagement ring. At the film's New York premiere in April 1915, Giuseppe tries to propose, but Rita panics and refuses. They reconcile physically, but he never speaks the words again. After Giuseppe departs for Europe, a telegram arrives: Their brother Alfred has enlisted and will deploy to the front in a week.

On May 1, 1915, Rita boards the Lusitania despite a published warning from the Imperial German Embassy, believing the ship's speed and a promised Royal Navy escort make her safe. She discovers Charles Frohman and George Vernon are also aboard. George establishes an emergency plan: If torpedoed, they will meet on A Deck. Over six days, they socialize with fellow passengers while the promised escort never appears and the ship's speed is reduced to save coal.

On May 7, a torpedo strikes the Lusitania. Rita fights her way up the listing grand staircase and finds George and Charles Frohman on deck. The lifeboats cannot launch because the ship is still moving and listing too severely. George asks Rita to tell Inez that love at first sight is real, and that Inez is the living proof. Frohman speaks his last words: "Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life." A wall of seawater crashes over them, ripping their hands apart. The ship sinks in 18 minutes.

Rita survives four hours in the Celtic Sea, clinging to an overturned lifeboat amid floating dead. She helps fellow survivor Lady Marguerite Allan, who searches desperately for her two lost daughters. A German submarine surfaces, circles the wreckage, and submerges. Rita is rescued by a disguised British merchant ship and brought to Queenstown, Ireland.

In Queenstown, Rita searches makeshift morgues and finds Charles Frohman's body, peaceful and almost smiling. Inez arrives, having felt George's death while playing violin at Winter Queen. Together they find George's body in an abandoned chandlery repurposed as a morgue.

At Winter Queen, Giuseppe arrives and Rita tells him she decided to marry him before boarding the Lusitania. He produces the emerald and platinum ring, and she accepts. Inez congratulates them but insists on returning to New York alone to settle George's affairs. Devastated and isolated in her Manhattan penthouse, Inez writes Rita a final letter likening death to the koi sleeping through winter at Winter Queen, ending with "I love you" and "Don't be angry." She dresses in the black satin gown George loved and takes her own life with the pearl-handled pistol Rita gave her years earlier.

A telegram boy delivers the news to Winter Queen. Rita, consumed by rage and grief, returns to New York, takes Inez's body back to Ireland, and resolves to produce a film about the Lusitania so no one will forget. In 1917, Lest We Forget is released to acclaim. The United States government recruits Rita to sell Liberty Bonds, government war bonds, and she outsells every other movie star.

In the epilogue, set in August 1915, the surviving Jolivets gather in Queenstown for a final service at a Celtic cross memorializing Inez and George Vernon as victims of the Lusitania. Rita goes last, tossing a yellow rose and a sachet of dried petals onto the casket. She closes her eyes and leans against Giuseppe, feeling him steady her as birds sing and soar above the green Irish cemetery.