Star Quality
Star Quality is a saga of four generations of women who become actresses, and each in her own way achieves stardom. It begins in 1917 with a typical upstairs-downstairs romance that leaves Millie, the poor maid, pregnant and unwed. She turns to the then barely respectable stage and becomes a star. After her untimely death, her daughter acts in films and her granddaughter is a world-class model. Eventually, the model’s daughter, fourth generation, becomes a teenage rock star. Their rises are followed carefully by a jealous enemy who seeks revenge for a wrong she blames on Millie and which she hands down through the generations of her own family. The narrative is plot-driven and often fails to engage the reader’s emotions.
While a good story, Star Quality lacks the fullness of detail that such an epic deserves. In fact, Miss Collins has given us little more than an expanded outline spiced with some Hollywood gossip. Although an experienced author, Miss Collins has fallen into the “telling not showing” trap.
