The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis

 

During the last days of World War II, two women meet while entertaining the troops in a USO troupe.  Hazel Riley is known as the girl who never made the Broadway stage although constantly being hired as a backup to the star.  Maxine Mead is a gorgeous actress.  When the two women come home after the war, they both end up in New York and living in the Bohemian Chelsea Hotel.  Hazel decides there is more than acting in the world and starts writing a play while Maxine is soon cast as the star of Hazel's play.

But there are is an unannounced war heading for Broadway.  After having success ruining careers in Hollywood, McCarthy seems to be setting his bullseye on Broadway.  Years before the War when socialist and progressive groups were in vogue, Maxine had attended a protest.  Hazel, whose brother believed in the cause, had signed petitions he had given her almost without reading them.  But both of them are now in the crosshairs of the government's attempt to bring down Broadway.

Fiona Davis has written extensively in the historical fiction genre, focusing on the women of various times.  Both women characters are fascinating but Hazel will win hearts as she attempts to make a career for herself.  Those not familiar with the witch-hunts of the time will be taken by the unfairness of the McCarthy targets and how he ruined careers and got people blacklisted from their work rather than name their friends.  This book is recommended for historical and women's fiction readers.