The Last Days of Leda Grey
In the long, arid summer of 1976, a young journalist in search of a story and of a path in life stumbles across a junk shop whose artifacts lead him to the discovery of a story which will become an obsession, and with which he becomes most intimately embroiled. He is transported by his research to the earliest days of cinema, during its brief but intense flaring in pre-First World War England, before Hollywood stole the show. The direction his life will take will become increasingly controlled by the figure of Leda Grey, as he traces her evolution from charismatic ingénue, to muse to the indomitable Charles Beauvais, and finally as chances of fame and fortune pass her by.
Fox makes the wise choice of fictionalizing her setting, allowing her to develop her own imaginative world, for all her Brightland is very recognizably Brighton, a centre of creativity when cinema was in its infancy. There is plenty of erudition here, and it is deployed beguilingly. I found myself Googling the actors’ seaside village and its railway carriage bungalows, the ‘actuals’ – short travelogue films, and the glass house studio, wanting them to be historically based (and I was not disappointed). Fox’s considerable knowledge and obvious delight in this world make for a rich experience for the reader. She creates a world which revives the exoticism, the surreal juxtapositions, the smoldering kohl-eyed and chiffon-clad sensuality, the crudely crafted magic tricks, the glee and the melodrama of these films. The intoxicating sense that everything is possible is there, but so are the personal disappointments. Indeed it is the wholeheartedness of Fox’s imaginative reconstruction which is the book’s greatest strength.
Within this setting and its complex narrative frames, the book delivers plenty of incident, supernatural mystery and page-turning jeopardy. An engaging read.
