THE SEVENTH VEIL OF SALOME

A bitter actor goes to war with a Hollywood newcomer in this historical novel.

It’s 1955, and Hollywood can’t stop talking about The 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 Gavaldón, 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 like Mexican Gothic (2020) and Velvet 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.