Welcome friend! I have had an eye on The Star and the Strange Moon ever since I heard about its upcoming release in February. Don’t worry, you don’t have to wait for it to come out – it just hit stores. The world Constance Sayers created in A Witch in Time is one I still think about and here was a chance to read another one.
The Star and the Strange Moon
Constance Sayers | Goodreads
From the author of A Witch in Time comes a haunting tale of ambition, obsession, and the eternal mystery and magic of film.
1968: Actress Gemma Turner once dreamed of stardom. Unfortunately, she’s on the cusp of slipping into obscurity. When she’s offered the lead in a radical new horror film, Gemma believes her luck has finally changed. But L’Etrange Lune’s set is not what she expected. The director is eccentric, and the script doesn’t make sense.
Gemma is determined to make this work. It’s her last chance to achieve her dream—but that dream is about to derail her life. One night, between the shadows of an alleyway, Gemma disappears on set and is never seen again. Yet, Gemma is still alive. She’s been transported into the film and the script—and the monsters within it—are coming to life. She must play her role perfectly if she hopes to survive.
2015: Gemma Turner’s disappearance is one of film history’s greatest mysteries—one that’s haunted film student Christopher Kent ever since he saw his first screening of L’Étrange Lune. The screenings only happen once a decade and each time there is new, impossible footage of Gemma long after she vanished. Desperate to discover the truth, Christopher risks losing himself. He’ll have to outrun the cursed legacy of the film—or become trapped by it forever.
The Star and the Strange Moon – Review
Just like in A Witch in Time, The Star and the Strange Moon explores multiple time periods. Here, there are two points of views: Christopher and Gemma. I enjoyed their connection inspite of being in different time periods and the way Constance Sayer brought them together.
Christopher
In the beginning, Christopher is a young boy. It’s always been him and his mom. It’s 1986. She is an artist, trying to make a living. He has never met his father. They are staying at a hotel when he witnesses his mom breakdown and destroy an image of an actress named Gemma Turner. He doesn’t know why and in the days that follow, his curiosity is never quenched. His mom passes away and he moves in with his aunt’s family. Christopher’s childhood and time with his aunt are written beautifully. He is a child who grew up always protecting his mom and looking out for the two of them. It is hard for him to give that role to adults in his life. I wept for him.
When Christopher’s older, he pursues his interest in film making. He meets Ivy in college. She comes from a wealthy family with many connections in the film industry. His fascination with Gemma has been with him since that fateful night and when Ivy tells him of a secret film screening of her last movie, L’Éstrange Lune, he wants to go see it. Little does it foresee what he is getting into and how this will impact every aspect of his life.
L’Éstrange Lune
To attend the once-a-decade screenings of L’Éstrange Lune, one needs to have an invite. Christopher and Ivy are swept away in the highly secretive rituals around watching this movie – there is a certain dress code, masks are mandatory, the time and place of the screening is revealed not very far in advance.
L’Éstrange Lune is the last movie that Gemma Turner filmed. She disappeared while filming it. It was never completed. Yet, every decade, when the movie returns to the theatre for its one screening, it is longer with new scenes. The director is long dead. Gemma has been missing for longer. How can this be happening? Where is this new footage coming from? Who is behind this?
But most importantly, what is this effect that seeing this film has on the audience? Both Ivy and Christopher are affected by what they see. A drape, quite heavy, envelops them.
The Star and the Strange Moon has this amazing mystery at its heart. Like Christopher, I wanted to know more. His questions around Gemma just keep increasing! I enjoyed the way he went about looking for information, the dangerous endeavour this ends up being and how he is finally able to put the clues together to how Gemma disappeared and this film continues to grow every decade.
Gemma
Gemma Turner was a famous actress in the 1960s. She became famous as a surfer girl but she wanted more challenging roles and a say in the character that she was playing. She was approached by Thierry Valdon to play a role in his upcoming film, L’Estrange Lune. Set in 1878 in France and shot at his mansion in Amboise, the film was about vampires. The lady of the mansion has recently lost her father. There is pressure on her to marry an eligible bachelor. Things take a turn for the worse when she unknowingly invites vampires into her house. This not only affects her but also the women at the village.
On reading the script the first time, Gemma isn’t impressed. Valdon ends up not keeping his word of making her an equal partner and she is forced to follow his script. One night, while shooting a scene, she is transported to 1878. Gemma’s bafflement is unbound. It takes her some time to understand where she is and where the film crew went. She begrudgingly settles into the role of protagonist of the film. She starts to change the script but is frustrated to find that the days repeat if her actions do not intrigue whoever is watching.
Through Gemma, I not only got a glimpse into the life of an actress in the 1960s but also the fortification of mind required to change her destiny based on the film script she is stuck in. She makes the best of her circumstances, challenging the status quo, trying to break free of this curse that has been put on her. She makes friends with her staff and truly settles into 1878. However, she misses home. The longing for jeans, a telephone, electricity is deep! Constance masterfully brings into three different eras – the 1870s, 1960-80s and then early 2000s through Gemma and Christopher.
The connection between Gemma and Christopher brilliantly builds and unfolds. Christopher ends up talking to many of the people that Gemma worked with in her lifetime while researching L’Estrange Lune. I enjoyed seeing them from Gemma’s perspective and then later their perspective on Gemma. It’s years since she has disappeared and yet the loss of her talent is mourned and many people feel that she was not treated fairly but the industry.
Horror
I love the concept of time travel and Constance’s books have been paramount in exploring what it means to be stuck in time because of a curse. They are not horror in the gorey, jumpy sense. They are horror because of a supernatural element, a deal with the devil, cult following, secret society kind of way. There is a higher entity at work that can manipulate time and existence.
I loved Twilight growing up but since my 20s, I have prefered the horror vampires over the romantic fantasy ones. In all honesty, I haven’t read much in the realm. The Star and the Strange Moon has serious vampires! Gemma knows from the script of the film who is coming and what she needs to do to repel them. Her struggles were fun to read and I was always rooting for her. The mental fortitude that Gemma shows is commendable and I thoroughly enjoyed her perspective.
The Star and the Strange Moon is another favorite by Constance Sayer. I still think about A Witch in Time. Considering how much I have been rereading, I am sure I will come back to both of these stories again. But first, I need to read The Ladies of the Secret Circus.
Check back tomorrow for an interview with Constance!
Many thanks to publisher, author and Spark Point Studio for an advanced copy of this book for an honest review.
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