This one was a bit of light relief after ploughing through A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara for the previous two weeks, and I was glad to be able to rest my nervous system. Evelyn Hugo is a Hollywood icon who has provided plenty of column inches for the movie press over many decades. By the age of fourteen she was already turning heads and it didn't take her long to realise that her generous curves and striking looks could help her get whatever she wanted in life. While she was still a teenager living in Hells Kitchen, New York, she persuaded a young man to marry her after she heard he was headed to Hollywood to work as a grip in the movie studios. She later said that she traded her virginity for a ride. Once she got to Hollywood she wasted no time in re-inventing herself, and out went dark haired Evelyn Dias of Cuban heritage, and in came a blond bombshell with heavy dark eyebrows and a dramatic style all of her own. While her husband was ...