Last Dance on the Starlight Pier

We all know that the Great Depression meant hard times for the majority of Americans. Possibly the only ones who escaped the tragedy were those who made their money by providing others with some sort of escape: Hollywood actors and bootleggers, for instance.

Caught in a strange place in the middle were those who participated in dance marathons: spectacles where people would dance for hours on end, resting for only a few minutes at a time. The greatest stars could become the public’s darlings, but all of them were merely dragging themselves through, physically and financially.

A few had greater dreams they pushed themselves toward. Evie Grace Devlin had dreams of becoming a nurse, but when those plans were ruined, she took to the dancing circuit, not escaping her past but pushing through it to shape her future.

Last Dance on the Starlite Pier is beautiful, heartbreaking, and best of all (to me), incredibly researched. Bird delved deep into the era’s history and drew inspiration from real events and real people. More than anything else, it’s a story of hope, something that is badly needed these days.