Glamorous Notions: A Novel

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars | 6,509 ratings

Price: 1.99

Last update: 02-13-2025


About this item

A costume designer’s past casts a long shadow over her well-constructed lies in this intriguing story about stolen identities, friendship, and betrayal from the author of A Splendid Ruin and A Dangerous Education.

Hollywood, 1955. As head costume designer for Lux Pictures, Lena Taylor hears startling confessions from the biggest movie stars. She knows how to keep their secrets—after all, none of their scandals can match her own.

Lena was once Elsie Gruner, the daughter of an Ohio dressmaker. Her gift for fashion design helped her win a coveted spot at an art academy in Rome. While in Italy, she became enthralled by the charismatic Julia, who drew her into a shadowy world of jazz clubs, code words, and mysterious deliveries. When one of Julia’s intrigues ended in murder, Elsie found herself in the middle of a bewildering sinister international plot. So she ran.

After fleeing to LA, Elsie became Lena—but she’s never stopped looking over her shoulder. Now, as her engagement to a screenwriter throws her into the spotlight, she’s terrified her façade won’t hold up. Will she figure out the truth about her past before everything falls apart?


From the Publisher

An elaborate disguise. A dangerous game.

Top reviews from the United States

  • Sweetpea
    5.0 out of 5 stars “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”--George Santayana
    Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2025
    This is an espionage story set in the Cold War/McCarthy era. If you don't know about that time this may spark your interest to read more about it. Don't dismiss this story because it might sound political or liberal. It's just a good spy story with a factual historical context and it was a suspenseful and impactful read and I loved the ending.

    The story is written in a way that clearly walks me through each and every thought that motivates the main character Lena. She trusts no one, and she shouldn't. The story moves along quickly and is hard to put down. I don't want to give anything away, but suffice it to say the context explains a lot. The broad topics are many—fashion and the movie industry, suppression of women, fear of the bomb, McCarthy era indoctrination, suspicions, labeling, ruined careers; and how government infiltrated and censored free thinkers. This would appeal to both genders and unfortunately the topics are relevant again. To paraphrase a famous quote—Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.

    If you're a Boomer you will vaguely remember some of these things from your childhood (e.g. hiding under our desks during bomb drills at school, or our moms being stuck at home with the kids and no money of her own or even a car, or idyllic TV shows like Leave It To Beaver and Father Knows Best). Be sure to read the Afterward at the end of this story—it makes it all the more fascinating and disturbing.
  • MassConsumer
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!
    Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2025
    Loved the detailed scene building and character developments as well as the underlying plot and timeframe of the novel. Somewhat predictable in outcome but sheds a healthy perspective on what was happening at the time.
  • Friend Zone
    5.0 out of 5 stars Old Hollywood
    Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2025
    This book wove in so many fascinating elements, and the period setting was just sublime. I enjoyed reading about the legends of Hollywood mixed into the fiction, as well as the issues that creative people had in the McCarthy era. Lena is a fantastic heroine and she is written with depth and believability. This was my first book by Megan Chance, but it won’t be my last.
  • Avowed Bibliophile
    3.0 out of 5 stars Glamorous Notions was a sleepy potion
    Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2025
    I kind of enjoyed the beginning, but honestly, very little of the character or plot rang true, and 3/4th of the way through, I just couldn’t make myself read it to the end. It was like the author put a hodgepodge of ideas in a cauldron, threw in some corn starch, stirred, and hoped something fully formed would emerge. It didn’t.

    Themes: Farm girl struggles to be more than a farm girl. Newly minted independent woman struggles to find her place in the world of fashion. Communism. Censorship. International intrigue (CIA looking for Communists who don’t appreciate being censored). Jazz. Romance (hetero & homosexual). Old Hollywood. Murder (nothing graphic). Sex (one scene). No foul language.

    Spoiler alert.

    Budding independent but very naive woman lets herself be manipulated by pool hustler, marries him to leave her parent’s pig farm. After hubby gets her as far as Los Angeles, a city where they aren’t buying his shake down, she walks out and becomes a Real Independent Woman. Fast forward: how she’s in Rome, studying design, lesbian undercurrents abound, defended against by, yes her nativity. Still, independent woman, courtesy of her female flirtation, soon becomes a messenger for the communist underground (but doesn’t know it, because she’s so charmingly naive, and is saved from jail or death, by her, yes nativity. “I know nothing!” Which gets her deported back to LA. Independent woman, now back in Hollywood becomes an overnight bigshot, but is constantly scared her past will catch up to her – if only she knew what she’d done and who was after her. Drat that Luella Parsons and her questions.

    This drags on and on, punctuated by the endless fitting of gowns to movie stars (yawn) and name dropping of stars (yawn), parties with stars (yawn) while trying to build tension with the threat of (another) communist witch hunt, and possible discovery by the no-good rotten husband she left. That would be bad news because with her new name (acquired in Rome), she’s now engaged to a man she truly loves.

    I finally skimmed to the end. Too, I’m a native of Los Angeles, and this felt like it was constructed by someone who only knew it second hand. I would have given it four stars because the writing was okay, but the pace was off and it needed a good chunk of the middle edited out. If you enjoy an implausible protagonist, the imagined politics of a movie studio, and endless descriptions of gown fittings, this is your read.
  • BJ Renczkowski
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good historical read
    Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2025
    This was good a historical fiction that had a lot of substance in it. The characters were well written and the storyline was good. It kept your interest pretty much throughout the book. There were a few sections that got a little long winded. Overall, it was a good book. Love the history about Russia, spies, and Italy.
  • Annie
    5.0 out of 5 stars Well Written
    Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2025
    This book captures an interesting period in history that deserves to be explored and examined. How did prevailing thought and attitude affect life then and now? How did it change American ideology or did it? Answers to these and other questions are good fodder for discussion and speculation. Chance did a beautiful job with this novel. It's well written, very interesting, and caused me to really think deeper about some aspects of life. Choosing to tell the story of Elsie Gruner's life opened a door for a beautiful work to emerge. Thank you, Megan Chance! Please keep writing.
  • Carla S.
    4.0 out of 5 stars Fast-paced and intriguing story of 1950s Hollywood
    Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2025
    GLAMOROUS NOTIONS is the latest novel from Megan Chance. It is a story of friendship, love and betrayal set mostly in Hollywood in 1955. The book takes you behind the scenes of costume design in Hollywood when the Red Scare was wreaking havoc on the movie industry. Lena Taylor makes a rapid and unprecedented rise to head costume designer for Lux Pictures. As a relative unknown until then, Lena’s ascent becomes fodder for gossip columnists and government officials alike. But Lena hides secrets from her past that could bring her current life to a screeching halt. When she becomes engaged to a Hollywood screenwriter, she is thrust into the unwanted spotlight. Will all her secrets be revealed? And can she protect those she loves from the fallout? I enjoyed this fast-paced and intriguing story. It immersed me in the setting and culture of 1950s LA/Hollywood and kept my attention right to the end. Highly recommended. GLAMOROUS NOTIONS was one of my Amazon First Reads selections for January.

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