Debut novelist Lindsay Lynch takes readers to the early days of Hollywood glitz and glamour in Do Tell, a story that highlights the many ways fame has always shaped the famous--and their fans--long before the age of social media.
Edie O'Dare is scrappy: the eldest daughter of a poor family living in New York, she's worked to put food on the table for herself and her family, supported her younger siblings through their educations, and taken every step possible to grasp at a better life for herself. As a teenager, she finagles her way into a Hollywood studio tour and never looks back, securing a contract with the prestigious FWM Studios. She acts in bit parts for the duration of her seven-year stay and, to supplement her income, sells insider tales of industry parties and fêtes to the Hollywood columnists.
When the final months of her acting contract coincide with a startling account of the assault of a young actress by a much older, more famous actor, Edie's attempts to help the girl rail against the elite and powerful of Hollywood end up launching Edie into a new career--this time as a gossip columnist herself, carving out a life for herself that frequently comes at the expense of those she reports on.
Lynch brings the golden age of Hollywood to life, but the stunning Do Tell is more than a recounting of an idealized time in the film industry, probing into questions of fame and notoriety, patriarchal structures and sexism, and the power of story to create--or ruin--a life in one fell swoop. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer