For fans of Muriel Spark, a dazzling novel about a young woman thrust into in the opulent world of 1940s Hollywood, where dirty dealings, undercover agents and off-camera romances abound

t is September 1940, and recently widowed Evelyn has been plucked from her humdrum civil service job in Woking and transported to the opulent world of wartime Hollywood. Young, bright and fluent in nine languages, she is to assist the British Colonel Peyton, who has secretly been trying to persuade an Anglo-Hungarian producer to create war propaganda. 

However, when Evelyn arrives, Peyton has been called to Bermuda and she finds herself isolated and adrift in new world which is dazzling and baffling in equal measure. Kitted out with an expensive new wardrobe and given a chic hairdo, Evelyn is free to reinvent herself far from the war-ravaged shores of England. But Hollywood, for all its luxury, is a dangerous place for an outsider, and potential threats – both international and personal – lurk around every corner.

Happy Little Bluebirds has all the allure, glamour and intrigue of a golden age Hollywood film. Packed with meticulous historical research which is handled with a light, deft touch, Louise Levene brings her acerbic, whip-smart wit to a glittering period in recent history.