Starry and Restless

""[A] vibrant triple biography . . . [Cooke writes with] verve and expansiveness, immersing herself in her characters' perspectives, even as she sticks responsibly to the biographical record."" --Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times ""A banquet of detail, alongside a portrait of three women who truly broke with the expectations of their day . . . Their legacy is still with us, precious and precarious."" --Casey Schwartz, The Atlantic ""[Cooke's] chronicle of [Hahn, West, and Gellhorn's] complex, downright astounding lives has the vividity and fluidity of fiction . . . Set within a revelatory history of women journalists, these entwined portraits are exhilarating."" --Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review) ""Cooke offers readers a whirlwind tour behind the headlines and a fresh perspective on the origins of literary journalism."" --Mackenzie Farkus, The Christian Science Monitor ""A fascinating study of how three legendary reporters left their mark."" --Publishers Weekly ""The pace is thrillingly breakneck . . . The flashes of such a world presented in Starry and Restless yields some of the most unforgettable journalists of the 20th century."" --Cory Oldweiler, The Boston Globe ""Cooke deftly captures [Hahn, West, and Gellhorn's] complex interpersonal relationships and perspectives on fame . . . An engrossing history of three remarkable women."" --Rebekah Kati, Library Journal ""Cooke is herself a perceptive writer, evocatively describing the women's journeys and their complex personalities . . . One thing is undeniable: Their work remains an impressive legacy."" --Anne Bartlett, BookPage ""Julia Cooke's sharp, insightful third book is a nuanced account of three pioneering female journalists and the ways their work helped shape the world."" --Kate Noah Gibson, Shelf Awareness ""A lively, sympathetic triple biography."" --Kirkus Reviews ""Starry and Restless begins with a gun hidden beneath a rumpled dress and takes off from there--across continents, through wars, and into uncharted territory. This richly narrated triple-threat biography reads like historical fiction. It is alive with urgency, and so vivid it nearly breathes. You can't help but think of its relevance during these troubling times."" --Susannah Cahalan, author of The Acid Queen ""In a rollicking tale, Julia Cooke takes readers to clandestine meetings with Chinese rebels in the red-light district of prewar Shanghai, to the scrappy Madrid hotel where journalists stockpiled hams and sheltered from bombings, and beyond. We see what it took for these brave women who covered conflicts around the world to fend off societal pressures and willfully, sometimes recklessly, always resourcefully, forge their own way."" --Julie Satow, author of When Women Ran Fifth Avenue ""If your image of the foreign correspondent of the 1930s and '40s is a man with a fedora and a cigar, think again. And if your image of the New Journalism is something first created by Tom Wolfe and his imitators decades later, think again there, too. Julia Cooke gives us a lively introduction to three remarkable women--Rebecca West, Emily Hahn, and Martha Gellhorn--who each played an underappreciated role in reinventing nonfiction storytelling."" --Adam Hochschild, author of American Midnight ""Julia Cooke's stunning book reclaims a heritage for narrative nonfiction, war reporting, and travel writing. Starry and Restless is an exciting, fascinating, and indispensable contribution to the story of twentieth-century writing."" --Anna Funder, author of Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life ""Starry and Restless is a gripping saga--part history, part travelogue--of three formidable writers who lived through, covered, and shaped our understanding of some of the twentieth century's most momentous events. An adventure unto itself. I didn't want to leave the company of the trailblazing journalists Julia Cooke so expertly and beautifully brings to life."" --Bianca Bosker, author of Get the Picture