Rust & Stardust: A Novel
Rust & Stardust: A Novel book cover

Rust & Stardust: A Novel

Kindle Edition

Price
$11.99
Publisher
St. Martin's Press
Publication Date

Description

Library Journal Best of 2018!San Diego Book Award 2019 winner for Best Published Mystery/Suspense! "Thoughtfully rendered." ― Vanity Fair "Chilling...a perfect read." ― Bustle “A beautifully written, unnerving tragedy woven from equal measures of hope and menace.” ― Booklist (starred review)“Heartrending....Readers who relish novels based on true events will be both riveted and disturbed by this retelling of one of America’s most famous abduction cases.” ― Library Journal (starred review)"Fast-moving....T. Greenwood has clearly done her research." ― New York Review of Books “Riveting suspense....Grace touches this dark tale....Greenwood’s story will spellbind readers.” ― Publishers Weekly "Enthralling...Wonderfully researched and written with stirring prose, Rust & Stardust is a gut-wrenching read." ― Tulsa Book Review "Well-written and heartbreaking." ― Watertown Daily Times "Unflinching but compassionate, Greenwood deftly unravels the devastating layers of malice and carelessness that tore Sally from her family, but also the love and perseverance that eventually brought her home.” ― Bryn Greenwood, author of the New York Times bestseller All the Ugly and Wonderful Things “Greenwood’s glowing dark ruby of a novel brilliantly transforms the true crime story that inspired Nabokov’s Lolita . Shatteringly original and eloquently written, Rust and Stardust is a lot about how what we believe to be true can shape or ruin a life, and the bright lure of innocence pitted against the murk of evil. So ferociously suspenseful, I found myself holding my breath, and so gorgeous and so unsettling in all the roads it might have taken, I kept rereading pages.” ―Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Cruel Beautiful World "A riveting and thoughtful exploration of how the dark secrets of a terrible crime affect and hurt so many―and how light and hope persist in the face of such horrors. Greenwood writes with such compassion and feeling, and she is such a confident, skillful storyteller, that you'll stay up late to find out the fates of her memorable, beautiful characters." ―Edan Lepucki, New York Times bestselling author of California and Woman No. 17 "A harrowing, ripped-from-the-headlines story of lives altered in the blink of an eye, once again proving her eloquence and dexterity as an author.” ―Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl "A lyrical and haunting meditation on family, love, and survival, this novel―and Sally Horner―stayed with me long after I turned the last page." ―Jillian Cantor, author of Margot "Greenwood is unmatched in her innate ability to weave lush, poetic language into a riveting story that hooks the reader from page one." ―Amy Hatvany, author of Best Kept Secret, and It Happens All the Time --This text refers to the paperback edition. T. GREENWOOD's novels have sold over 300,000 copies. She has received grants from the Sherwood Anderson Foundation, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Maryland State Arts Council. Her novel Bodies of Water was a 2014 Lambda Literary Awards Finalist, and she is the recipient of four San Diego Book Awards. Keeping Lucy was a 2020 Target Book Club pick. Greenwood lives with her family in San Diego and Vermont. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Features & Highlights

  • “Greenwood’s glowing dark ruby of a novel brilliantly transforms the true crime story that inspired Nabokov’s
  • Lolita
  • . Shatteringly original and eloquently written....So ferociously suspenseful, I found myself holding my breath.” —Caroline Leavitt,
  • New York Times
  • bestselling author of
  • Pictures of You
  • Camden, NJ, 1948. When 11 year-old Sally Horner steals a notebook from the local Woolworth's, she has no way of knowing that 52 year-old Frank LaSalle, fresh out of prison, is watching her, preparing to make his move. Accosting her outside the store, Frank convinces Sally that he’s an FBI agent who can have her arrested in a minute—unless she does as he says. This chilling novel traces the next two harrowing years as Frank mentally and physically assaults Sally while the two of them travel westward from Camden to San Jose, forever altering not only her life, but the lives of her family, friends, and those she meets along the way.Based on the experiences of real-life kidnapping victim Sally Horner and her captor, whose story shocked the nation and inspired Vladimir Nabokov to write his controversial and iconic
  • Lolita,
  • this heart-pounding story by award-winning author T. Greenwood at last gives a voice to Sally herself.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(243)
★★★★
25%
(203)
★★★
15%
(122)
★★
7%
(57)
23%
(186)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Incredible writing, amazing story.

Fabulous.
Literary.
Gut-wrenching.
I will read again and again.
A absolutely an all out top 10 over everything I've read.
A tour de force.
19 people found this helpful
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My favorite contemporary author transcends

A longtime fan of Greenwood's, she is gifted at peeling back the layers of the human psyche and revealing them delicately while painting worlds familiar and real. Few would argue against her ability to immerse the reader and challenge their perceptions and understanding of the emotional life of her characters. To do that with fictional characters is one thing. To do it with the real-life Sally Horner and her kidnapper is on a whole different level. Greenwood's respect to the individuals she portrays in this candid and shocking exploration of what Sally went through is palpable throughout the novel. Even when I thought something too unbelievable to be true, I discovered in my research it was, in fact, documented in newspapers of the time. Greenwood then weaves the "how" and "why" into the story using her imagination. Her imagination in this case is not a process of creating the character, but of actually discovering Sally Horner herself, and walking by her side through the almost two year ordeal. I can't imagine what telling this story did to Greenwood, but I can tell you that she went down the rabbit hole and captured the spirit of Sally herself, regardless of the details she could not know. Sally's story is harrowing, shocking, and heartbreaking. And in fictionalizing it, Greenwood exposes the inner experience of a kidnapped child more authentically and emotionally than any true crime book I've ever read. Greenwood was careful. Respectful. Intentional. I am so grateful to her for not setting it afire and turning it to ash as she considered doing during the challenging journey of discovering Sally.
16 people found this helpful
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Extremely sad but engrossing story. Spoilers Included.

What a profoundly sad book. Your heart will break for Sally Horner. Knowing that the book is based on fact, you will wonder how such a thing could possibly happen even in that time period. You will be frustrated at the many "near misses" when Sally is just about to be saved, yet isn't. The book also delves into the themes of motherhood, friendship and belonging; ideas that are just as important today as they were in 1949. I think the most difficult part of this book is that even after Sally is rescued, there is no relief. As in real life, sometimes there is just too much damage done to have a happy ending.
10 people found this helpful
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Disappointed with the liberties

I loved the book for its storytelling of Sallys life until I read the afterward and found out almost all of the story was fiction. I feel the author should have just written a fictional story about a girl then noted Sallys story as inspiration. I feel duped and have to wonder how many readers think they know the real story of Sally because the didn't read further than the ending.
9 people found this helpful
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The real Lolita

This is a fictional account of the real events that inspired Vladimir Nabokov to write the both acclaimed and reviled novel, Lolita. Sally Horner was a real girl, kidnapped from her family and life in NJ and subjected to real emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. While Lolita will remain as one of the greatest novels in the English language, Rust & Stardust should also be considered as closer to the harsh reality faced by this little girl and her family. If you’ve read Lolita, you should also read this moving historical novel.
7 people found this helpful
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Horner Fog Haze Lolita

I should be ashamed, as a former HS English teacher, to have never read Lolita. Neither had I heard of the abduction of Sally Horner. Double shame on me! T Greenwood's book reads like fiction, it is fiction, yet she captures the naivety of the time perfectly. Whenever I found myself frustrated by the constant mishaps I had to bring myself back to Steinbeck, as she captures his world in the telling of Sally who later became Lolita. Read this. It will spur you onto your own search for both Sally and Lolita. A much safer literary obsession.
4 people found this helpful
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2-2.5 stars

I am in the clear minority in my feelings for this book. I have read other books by Greenwood and loved them, but Rust & Stardust just didn’t do it for me. For starters, I really just wanted to shake some common sense into Sally. Was she really that stupid? I mean, she is 11 years old. Old enough to know that the FBI isn’t going to arrest you for stealing a notebook.

And then, all those times that Frank left her alone, in rooms, in the care of other people, she seriously didn’t tell anyone or try to call her mom and get out of that situation. I just had a hard time believing that she really didn’t think to try to save herself. I know, I know, she was scared, but even she started to suspect that something wasn’t right and still did nothing.

All in all, I was pretty bored with this book and I really couldn’t wait to get through it so I could start my next one. With that, there are buckets of 4-5 star reviews, so I would say give it a go, especially if true crime is something you enjoy.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my copy of this book via NetGalley
4 people found this helpful
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Captivating!

As always T. Greenwood did it again!. I was captivated from the beginning and if it wasn't for work I would have finished it sooner. Ms Greenwood what a gift for storytelling you have. Loved the characters and story you told. I sure hope Sally had some of those happy moments during that horrific time until in her life. Keep doing what you do, I an anxiously awaiting your next one!!
3 people found this helpful
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A Standing Ovation!

*Standing ovation, thunderous applause, wipe tear from cheek.* This book is one of the most precious reads I’ve ever read. An absolute masterpiece! The tragic story of Florence Sally Horner, the crime that inspired Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, pours itself onto the pages of Rust & Stardust.

A lot of the books I’ve read recently contain a plot that slowly builds, has an action-packed climax and an ending that leaves me in desire of closure. This book isn’t like that. It begins gripping you from the first page and pulls you in, more and more. I felt such waves of emotions during this read. I felt fear, anger, disgust, sorrow, peace, hopeful. There were a few times I found myself wiping a single tear from my eye. (And I’m not usually that kind of reader.)

T. Greenwood has breathed life into Sally’s story unlike any before. She has taken a very sensitive topic and written with such tact and poise that should be commemorated. I highly recommend this read to everyone.

I would like to thank T. Greenwood and St. Martin’s Press for the galley. This was a story that will always be part of my highly recommended.
2 people found this helpful
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Difficult book to rate

I have a hard time assigning a rating to this book because it was the developing story that made me want to lower the rating . I didn’t want it to be a true story. I didn’t like the ending, but it couldn’t end any other way as retelling is locked to fact. The characters were well developed; it was what makes us human that makes them less likable.
Definitely a book I will be thinking about a lot longer than I may wish.
1 people found this helpful