The Seventh Veil of Salome

February 1, 2024

The award-winning Moreno-Garcia (whose Mexican Gothic is being developed by Hulu) spins a multiple-timeline historical saga. In 1950s Hollywood, the production of the film Salome is the big story; also buzzing is newcomer Vera Larios, who has landed the lead role. In ancient Judea, the flesh-and-blood princess Salome is living her own legendary life, torn between desire and duty. Prepub Alert.

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Starred review from May 15, 2024
Moreno-Garcia is known for her richly imagined supernatural tales, such as The Daughter of Doctor Moreau (2022) and Silver Nitrate (2023). Here she turns to historical fiction, delving into the glamour and the seediness of 1950s Hollywood with dazzling results. When beautiful young Mexican actress Vera Larios is plucked out of obscurity to star in the epic film, The Seventh Veil of Salome, she unwittingly draws the ire of Nancy Hartley, a white actress who has been struggling and failing to make it big. Despite this, Nancy is convinced that Vera stole her star-making role, and her ire only grows when Vera starts dating a handsome aspiring musician who briefly dated Nancy but broke things off when she got violent with him. As their story unspools, so does that of Salome, the ambitious princess who is torn between her head and her heart when she falls in love with a fiery young preacher who runs afoul of her uncle. Moreno-Garcia is a gifted storyteller, vividly rendering both the intrigue and dangers of the ancient world Salome inhabits and the allure and ugliness (ingrained sexism and racism) of Golden Age Hollywood while spinning a thoroughly captivating, thrilling tale.

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May 13, 2024
Moreno-Garcia (Silver Nitrate) returns to the world of moviemaking for this layered if schematic story of a Mexico City receptionist whose exotic looks land her the lead role in the eponymous 1950s Hollywood epic. Vera Larios has no professional acting experience, which infuriates costar Nancy Hartley, who was certain the role was hers and that it would have been her big break. While Nancy schemes to knock Vera out of the picture, Moreno-Garcia unfurls a parallel story line in which the biblical Salome navigates power struggles in her uncle Herod’s court through stratagems not unlike those wielded by Vera and Nancy. Moreno-Garcia shines a light on the racial and gender politics of postwar Hollywood and intertwines her tale with enough real history to please Tinseltown obsessives, though her stock characters are straight out of central casting: in addition to the vulnerable ingenue and bitter bit player, there are a vain male lead, martinet director, and harried screenwriter. This isn’t the author’s best. Agent: Eddie Schneider, JABberwocky Literary.

Starred review from July 15, 2024
A bitter actor goes to war with a Hollywood newcomer in this historical novel. It's 1955, and Hollywood can't stop talking aboutThe Seventh Veil of Salome, a film that its beleaguered screenwriter calls "one of those sword-and-sandal flicks" and a "picture with a camel, a palace, and a garbage plot thinly inspired by a Biblical story." The film has been in the works for years; one of the reasons is that its director has had trouble finding an actor for the title role, the first-century princess who plays a part in the New Testament. The director finally settles on a 21-year-old Mexican newcomer named Francisca Severa Larios Gavald�n, whom the studio renames Vera Larios. Vera's rapid ascent irks Nancy Hartley, "a professional party girl more than she was an actress," who nevertheless badly wanted the role herself. Nancy also wants Jay Rutland, a handsome jazz pianist who has his eyes set on Vera. Nancy is a racist with a nasty temperament--"God help the person who incurred her wrath"--which means she has no intention of letting Vera go unpunished. Meanwhile, Vera tries to adjust to her new life in Hollywood, deal with her overbearing mother, and avoid the unwanted attentions of a sex-pest actor who believes he's entitled to her body. Moreno-Garcia's novel is told from a variety of perspectives, and she captures each voice perfectly, with dialogue that's artfully and subtly reminiscent of Golden Age movies. She also proves to be an expert at building suspense--she telegraphs that Vera and Nancy's rivalry will end explosively, but still manages to end the novel with a genuine surprise. The author has proved with previous books likeMexican Gothic (2020) andVelvet Was the Night (2021) that she's a master storyteller who can move among genres with ease, so it's no surprise that this foray into historical fiction is intelligent, exciting, and written absolutely beautifully. A rousing success: Moreno-Garcia proves, once again, that she is a master of her craft.

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