Mr Starlight

More about the book

What if Liberace had been born in Saltley, Birmingham, England instead of Milwaukee, Wisc.? That's the premise of Laurie Graham's entertaining novel about Selwyn Boff, who parleys spangly jackets, candelabra, piety and public devotion to his mum into international stardom. Graham tells the story from the point of view of Selwyn's older brother Cledwyn, an aspiring musician and failed song-writer who plays second fiddle to Sel all his life. He doesn't know much about Sel's sex life, and casts a rosy light on even the most dysfunctional aspects of the Boff clan, but his memoir is also a running commentary on the changes in British and American mass culture after WWII