Coming in May!: Banished from Memory by Mary Sheeran

It’s 1960. Sixteen-year-old Dianna Fletcher has been accustomed to the bright lights of Hollywood all her life-but now they are casting shadows on her family’s past and on her own future.

Dianna fears she is losing her talent and failing to live up to her family’s legacy. When she does land a part, she finds an unexpected enemy in brilliant actor and womanizer, Bill Royce, who not only attacks her confidence but holds a deep grudge against her family. Dianna comes to believe Bill’s resentment is related to her suspicion that her parents harbor a secret linked to the blacklist. But even as their friendship grows despite their misgivings about each other, Bill will not confess what he knows.

As Dianna struggles with her career in a rapidly changing industry, she urges Bill to share his dark past with her, only to discover secrets that could destroy her family’s prestige and power.

Banished From Memory highlights the conflicted relationship between two legacies of the blacklist, the sunset of classic Hollywood, the challenges and gifts of acting, and a determination on the part of one generation to exhume the truth of another’s. But at what cost?

EXCERPT

When he had held her as if she were a floating bit of driftwood and he was drowning. When he had kissed her with a hunger that roused her own. When his hands had caressed her face like the gentle wings of a butterfly. When she had wanted to cry out to him except the lines she wanted to say were not in the script, and by habit and discipline, she said the words of the script as the camera three inches away recorded her exultant face, as the microphone picked up her memorized words written by a marvelous writer and carried them to the sound mixers, as the first and second assistant directors and wardrobe and makeup and script supervisor and cinematographer and who knows who else stood close to watch what was lit ever so cleverly by the DP and as Fred Sybuck kept having different ideas about how she should react, bouncing off her own acting, her own inner thoughts. And she wanted to yell, I know! Or was it Lily who knew? In their last love scene, Bill gave her such a look of longing and desperation that it shook her. Was it real? Acting? Did she want to know?

The wrap party was held on the set, and Bill just gave her a light peck on her cheek. They would never work together again. 

At home, she found a letter. 

Dear Dianna, I hope you trust me. I lived with Bill for half a year, on and off. I know that he is charming, often thoughtful, and seemingly wonderful. I saw you with Bill in his car, and I felt I should write you. You are working in a movie together, and I know how that can be. And you’re so young. Bill experiences dark moments, times of pure rage, and while he never struck me, he did push me away a few times, and I mean push, so I was on the floor or hitting furniture. He was always apologetic. Sometimes, if I may say so, these dark moments extend to his love making. Please don’t be angry with me for caring about you. I miss him, and I admire him, but it was good to leave him. - Sandi

Dianna walked down the beach. Bill was sitting on his deck, reading. She climbed up the steps. He stood up.

“Go home.” 

She’d experienced his moods. She had also experienced his intelligence, his brilliance, and his humor. She felt some deep connection with him. Didn’t he feel one for her? 

As Lily had done, she rested her head on his shoulder. His arms went around her. She sank against his hard chest and closed her eyes. He didn’t push her away. She felt sweet pleasure, soft touches, caresses of her hair, light kisses, and she felt his anger dissipate. 

“Now will you go home?” he asked, quietly. 

“I want to be with you,” she said.

-From Banished From Memory by Mary Sheeran © 2019

MARY SHEERAN has acted in plays, sung in operas, and created and performed recitals and cabaret shows, all in New York City. She is the author of two novels, Who Have the Power (2006), an exploration of cultural conflict, feminism, and Native American history, and Quest of the Sleeping Princess (2012), set in the midst of George Balanchine’s ballets. She has written theater and dance reviews for show business trade publications and for the blog Life Upon the Sacred Stage. Mary lives in the Bronx, where in conjunction with earning a Master of Divinity degree from New York Theological Seminary, she can also be found giving sermons in Manhattan churches.

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