1920s Broadway: A Review of The Show Girl by Nicola Harrison

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.

Reading Has Ruined My Life has spent the last two weeks in a recently un-dystopia-fied future with the end of The Selection series. So it’s time we head back to the past. This week, RHRML is headed back to the Roaring 20s. We’re going to the Great White Way and all the glitz, glamour, and seedy underbelly that comes with it.

Please welcome to the stage The Show Girl by Nicola Harrison!

As always, a spoiler alert is in order. If you’re read any other review on this site then you will know I simply love to spoil the entirety of the books I review. This is your one and only warning. I also have a content and trigger warning to issue before getting to the synopsis. The Show Girl deals with sexual assault and rape. There are also many discussions of infertility and serious medical issues brought on by childbirth. All these topics are prevalent to the main plot of The Show Girl. Please take care while reading. The Show Girl is a great read, but it is very heavy at times. With that, let’s crack in.

Olive will be on Broadway. She will be a star! Nothing will stop her, not her unsupportive parents, and definitely not the fact that she has a child out of wedlock. After giving her baby girl up for adoption, Olive finds herself moving to New York City to pursue her dream.

Enter Mr. Florenz Ziegfeld, the man, the myth, the legend behind Ziegfeld Follies. He sees the potential in Olive and casts her in his famous show. Olive has made it. She’s part of the most glamorous, expensive, and provocative shows New York has ever seen. As the months go on, Olive’s star rises. She meets the crème de la crème of New York: mobsters, famed singers, the ultra-wealthy. And one of these ultra-wealthy men catches her eye.

It's Jay Gatsby, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals! JK, it's not.

Archie Carmichael, wealthy and handsome, loves Olive’s modern ways and zest for life. The pair are inseparable and soon find themselves engaged. But after Olive accepts the marriage proposal, Archie changes his tune when it comes to Olive’s career. While he once loved that Olive makes her own money and is a performer, he asks Olive to give up her career once they marry. Will these two marry? Can their love survive? Will Olive continue to shine on stage? Will she tell Archie about the daughter she gave up for adoption a few short years ago? Find out in The Show Girl.

Olive is a fantastic example of a snobby character done right. She has an ego backed up by talent, ambition driving her forward, and she's brimming with life. If you read the last two reviews on the site then you will know I’ve unintentionally been on a snobby characters kick lately. Olive is a snobby character who works. Olive has an ego, but she’s fun to read about; unlike Eadlyn Schreave who is just insufferable.

Olive is made even more likeable by her character arc. When readers meet her, she’s barely out of her teens. She’s naïve, she has been through a terrible ordeal, and readers see her grow up. While her focus is still on getting to New York City and becoming a Broadway star, and I’d argue she’s even more driven now after everything that happened to her, her focus shifts from solely being on herself to including her chosen family. It’s a satisfying arc.

Lest you worry, my enjoyment of The Show Girl goes well beyond Olive. Nicola Harrison clearly knows her stuff. Her historical research marks every page; even when she changes dates and times to suit her narrative. On top of the historical accuracy, Nicola Harrison creates a dazzling, and often seedy, atmosphere set in a late-1920s New York City. I swear, every page made it feel like I was in the middle of the action. From prancing across the stage at the New Amsterdam Theatre to relaxing in upstate New York’s woods at a luxury campground to partying uptown, downtown, and every town in between; I was there. The theatre especially. I was a theatre kid in my youth so all the details of the New Amsterdam made me feel like I was returning home.

Oh how I miss the theatre.

Nicola Harrison created a truly detailed novel with The Show Girl. And quite a heartbreaking one, too. The relationship Archie and Olive have is full of ups and downs. There’s drama in their love story, and it’s not unnecessary drama. No miscommunication trope here! The conflicts the couple face are real and raw. From Olive being told to give up her career entirely, to Archie’s family not being a fan of Olive, to Olive’s child she gave up for adoption; these are all issues the pair must work through before they can be together.

Claps for a realistic relationship!

And major props to Nicola Harrison for giving this pair a true happy for now ending. It would have been so easy to let these two live happily ever after, but instead she chose to leave their ending fairly open. Not to spoil too much, but Olive and Archie don’t get married in the end. They leave together on a boat bound for Europe. They’re happily in love but who knows what the future holds for them. I greatly appreciate the ending. I love how open it is for the pair.

Truthfully, I really didn’t know what to expect or what I anticipated when I cracked open The Show Girl. All I knew was the novel was set on Broadway in the 1920s. I expected glitz and glam and that was it. I did not anticipate a tragic love story! Yeah, I’m calling Archie and Olive’s tragic even though they do end up together in the end. I’m just pleasantly surprised with The Show Girl. It exceeded my expectations. 

With that, I shall bid you all adieu. Thank you very much for joining me today, Book Nerds. I hope you all had a lovely time here this week. I will see you all again next Wednesday with another fun new post. If you can’t wait till then, then I highly suggest giving Reading Has Ruined My Life a follow over on Instagram (@ReadingHasRuinedMyLife). I post there almost daily so come back often to revel in literary goodness. You can also follow the blog on Twitter and BlueSky (@RHRMLBlog). If you want something not related to books then I suggest checking out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. The show stars me and two of my dearest friends. We talk about everything and anything. Seriously, we have episodes on Scooby-Doo, Disney, Barbie, bad wrestling, weird people and moments of history. There are so many great episodes to take a listen to. Nothing to See Hear can currently been found on Spotify and YouTube. New episodes release every Wednesday evening.

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.

See y'all then, bye!