Natasha Lester, a New York Times bestselling author and former marketing executive for L’Oréal, will promote her new novel “The Chateau on Sunset” with a stop in Greenville.
While crafting her story, Lester found inspiration from an article about the Golden Age of Hollywood at the city’s Chateau Marmont.
Set in 1957, the story follows Aria Jones, a newly orphaned young woman who is sent to live with her aunt, a fading star who hides away in the hotel. Once there, Aria connects with two aspiring actresses, Calliope and Flitter.
However, Aria’s first few nights reveal an insidious secret that continues to haunt her as she grows up in the Marmont’s halls. If she can stay invisible as she saves money, then she can leave the hotel and live life on her own terms, alone but free. Her plans fall apart when it is bought by Theo Winchester, a reclusive rock star turned unexpected caretaker of his daughter, Adele, and unlike any man Aria has met before. To earn the last bit of money she needs to escape, Aria becomes Adele’s tutor, which brings Aria closer to Theo and ignites a passion she never expected.
“(The article) talked about then Columbia Pictures Studio boss Harry Cohn saying, ‘If you must get into trouble, do it at the Chateau Marmont,’” said Lester. “That kind of line is like catnip to a novelist.”
Lester’s other inspiration for “The Chateau on Sunset” came from a book she loved as a child, Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre.” She said when she reread the book as an adult, she wondered if Jane regretted not venturing out into the world. With that idea in mind, Lester decided to reimagine the story to give her an ending that was romantically and personally satisfying.
As she researched the Chateau Marmont’s history, Lester also found fun anecdotes about its residents, such as Vivien Leigh, the actress best known as Scarlett O’Hara from “Gone with the Wind,” who replaced the hotel’s art in her room with her own portraits. In addition, she discovered that events at the hotel during the 1950s and 1960s helped set the stage for the MeToo movement.
“I wanted to look at writing an alternative history of that because so many of those stories about what happened to those women who we see as amazing movie stars, a lot of their backstories are actually quite difficult and dark,” Lester said. “They struggled every day against that Hollywood casting couch.”
Lester will participate in M.Judson Booksellers’ Book Over Drinks series June 9 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Admission is $35 per person and includes a cocktail or mocktail and a signed copy of “The Chateau on Sunset.” For more information, visit mjudsonbooks.com.
