Three big things happened in America in March 1933. On the fourth day of the month, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office as President. He immediately declared a national banking holiday, temporarily closing every bank in the US and freezing financial transactions. And on March 10, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck Los Angeles’ port. The quake cost 120 lives and damage citywide valued at more than $1 billion today. All three events enter the picture in this masterful novel of Hollywood early in its Golden Age. In Land of Dreams, novelist Gian Sardar explores the brittle fame of film stardom and how “the truth is always more meaningful than the best of lies.” It’s a beautifully written novel about mythmaking and murder in Golden-Age Hollywood.
Don’t expect a Hollywood ending
Land of Dreams does not draw to a close with the proverbial Hollywood ending. The story is rife with betrayal, manipulation, murder, and an unending tissue of lies. But the ending is the happiest that the real world of Hollywood will permit. And the story illuminates the reality of life in Depression-era America as well as the ugly foundation on which Hollywood rests.
Land of Dreams by Gian Sardar (2026) 297 pages ★★★★★
What’s going on here?
Frankie Donnelly takes center stage in Land of Dreams. She’s young, smart, fiercely ambitious, and scrappy. In her job as a publicity “fixer” at RCO Studios, she works for a powerful studio executive named Nico Marconi. He’s grooming her for a larger role, because Frankie has a unique talent for spinning potentially damaging situations into golden PR narratives.On probation for a new, higher-paid job, Frankie must orchestrate the wedding of Hollywood superstars Jack Sawyer and June Finney.
It’s the Depression, and millions of Americans desperately seek escape from the grim reality of daily life. Jack and June provide the glamor they crave. But Frankie knows full well that the upcoming marriage is a PR stunt. Jack and June barely get along. And the wedding is designed to cover up the darkest secrets in both their lives.<
Mythmaking and murder
Then a shocking murder shatters the illusion. The tabloids have a field day, and the public gasps with disbelief. Frankie finds herself caught up in a dangerous web of forbidden love, deep-seated corruption, and historical scandal. Using her unique knowledge of the suspects involved, she inserts herself in the investigation. To her dismay, she uncovers the depths of deception at the studio. Ultimately, she must decide which powerful Hollywood players to protect and whom she must destroy.
Blending a tender romance with a twisty mystery, Land of Dreams explores the high cost of myth-making, vulnerability, and the pursuit of the American dream. Frankie must navigate a world where nothing is what it seems. In the end, she is forced to decide how far she will go to manufacture a Hollywood happy ending.
About the author
As she writes of her author website, “Gian Sardar was born in Los Angeles, California. Her father was from Kurdistan of Iraq, and her mother is Belgian American and from Minnesota. She studied creative writing at Loyola Marymount University.” Sardar is the author of three other novels and coauthor of a memoir. “Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Literary Hub, Confrontation Magazine, and Salon.com, among other places. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son.
For related reading
Check out Great mysteries about Hollywood and Top Los Angeles mysteries and thrillers.
There are other excellent books at:
You might also check out this nonfiction book about Hollywood in its heyday. It’s not well done but is worth reading for the little-known story: Hedy’s Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World, by Richard Rhodes (2011) 288 pages ★★★☆☆—The astonishing story of Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood star and inventor.
And you can always find the most popular of my 2,400 reviews, and the most recent ones, on the Home Page.
