The Star Society
By Gabriella Saab
(Harper Muse)
Interview by Diane Slocum
Twin sisters live in the Netherlands under Nazi occupation during World War II. Aleida (later Ada) tries to help her ballet teacher and the resistance by raising funds at secretive ballet performances. Ingrid wants to help her boyfriend avoid being drafted into the Nazi army. They question whether their mother is a Nazi sympathizer or if she is just putting on a show to protect them. As tensions intensify, Ingrid and Lars must flee, separating the inseparable sisters, not knowing when or if they will see each other again. After the war, neither knows the other survived and moved to America until a chance opportunity brings them together on opposite sides of the communist investigations of the 1940s.
AUTHORLINK: What gave you the idea for this story?
SAAB: Audrey Hepburn. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been fascinated by her movies, and as I grew up, I began to learn more about her. I discovered she grew up in the Netherlands and lived there during World War II—meaning she had survived Nazi occupation. Not only had she survived, but she also worked for the resistance. I was stunned and shocked to learn this and wondered what it might have been like to do something so brave and survive something so harrowing, then to become a public figure and famous actress. I wanted to explore that journey through fiction by creating a fictional character whose life takes a similar trajectory.
AUTHORLINK: Where did you go from there?
SAAB: Since I didn’t want this book to focus exclusively on World War II, that meant I needed to focus on postwar America, where my fictional actress, Ada, is a rising Hollywood star. I discovered that Hollywood was one of the early primary targets during the rise of the Red Scare, when the fear of communism was sweeping the country. I wanted this book to be a story of sisters, and this gave me an idea: What if I had two sisters involved in the Red Scare, but in entirely different ways? One is an actress who falls under suspicion of communist ties, and the other is a private investigator sent to uncover her true loyalties. And thus THE STAR SOCIETY was born.
AUTHORLINK: Can you tell us more about how you developed your characters?
SAAB: Ada and Ingrid are twin sisters. Ada is an actress; Ingrid is a private investigator. Ada loves dance, music, and theater; Ingrid loves politics and history. In many ways, they could not be more different, yet they share an incredibly close bond. This is what ultimately puts them to the test, because their loyalty to one another is tested in every way possible. When they lose touch during the war, then reconnect postwar, they are eager to reestablish their sisterhood, yet each one carries secrets, and their experiences during the war were very different. I focused on developing those emotions and complexities because they drive everything else. As each sister wrestles with her individual experiences and the moral complexities of her circumstances, she has to ask herself if these other things—her postwar life, safety, security, career, everything else—are more important than her sister, and than her relationship with her sister.
AUTHORLINK: When you were writing your story, how did you plan where to place flashbacks to life in the occupied Netherlands and what they would include?
SAAB: I could have written a whole book about the twins’ lives in Arnhem, but I knew I could very easily get carried away with the flashbacks. Instead, I tried to focus on the moments that were most important and that shaped the sisters and their relationship in the present (“the present” being 1946 onward) the most. That really helped me identify what moments of their life in occupied Arnhem to include, because the flashbacks occur when a corresponding scene in the present calls for it. For example, after Ada and Ingrid reunite in 1946, the next flashback scene is to their last moments together in occupied Arnhem before they parted ways. I also determined that most of these flashback scenes needed to be from Ada’s perspective. As much as I would have loved to delve into Ingrid’s life during occupation and in the years leading up to it, I thought it made more sense to keep those moments tighter and focus on the occupation, which Ada experiences more fully than her sister, therefore most of those scenes are from Ada’s perspective.
AUTHORLINK: How did you research the historical aspects of your story?
SAAB: I started with Audrey Hepburn, since her life shaped Ada’s character. Audrey was not caught up in the Red Scare, but I used her childhood and experiences in occupied Arnhem to shape Ada, her background, and her family. Audrey was also a very private person with a fairly low self-esteem and deep insecurities, so I borrowed aspects of her personality for Ada as well. Then, for Ingrid, I wanted to make her a foil of Ada in many ways, so I gave her different interests and personality traits to contrast Ada’s. Next, I focused on the Red Scare. I’m fortunate in that I was researching fairly recent history, so I found some wonderful nonfiction books as well as transcripts from the HUAC hearings and documentaries about the Red Scare and its impacts on Hollywood. I do my research before I start drafting, then as I draft, I jot down places that require extra research so I can fill in the gaps when I edit.
AUTHORLINK: Do you see the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee and McCarthyism as something that is relevant to what is happening today?
SAAB: At the time of the Red Scare, the general consensus was the same: Most people in Hollywood and America as a whole respected HUAC’s mission in terms of fighting communism but wanted the fight to be carried out in accordance with civil liberties and freedoms. That last part is where the waters began to muddy, and where we see how easily civil liberties can be eroded. I think that fine line is relevant to today and every time period because it shows how easily it can happen. “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it,” as the saying goes, which is why it’s important to educate ourselves so we can recognize issues when they arise and hopefully learn from our past mistakes rather than repeat them. This is also why historical fiction is so important because it tells stories we don’t need to forget.
AUTHORLINK: What do you hope readers get out of your novel besides enjoying a good story?
SAAB: I want readers to find a story of strong women, and I hope this book encourages them to learn more about the real history within it. Above all, I hope they connect with the characters and see this first as a story of sisters—their struggles, their triumphs, and their unbreakable love for one another.
AUTHORLINK: What are you working on next?
SAAB: I have another historical novel releasing on September 1st, 2026 from Harper Muse! It’s called THE SURVIVORS GUILD and follows two women—an American heiress and a Lebanese immigrant—aboard the Titanic. When the ship wrecks, the women survive together and the youngest survivor, a baby boy, is entrusted to their care. They form a charitable committee to locate the child’s next of kin while one begins to question her gilded cage, the other is desperately working to bring her family from Lebanon to America, and both struggle against the scrutiny and hardships of New York society. It was so much fun to write, and I loved getting to incorporate my Lebanese heritage and explore more lesser-known stories in history. I can’t wait for everyone to read it!
About the author: Gabriella Saab has a bachelor of business administration degree in marketing from Mississippi State University and works as a barre instructor. In addition to her current and upcoming novels, she has authored The Last Checkmate and Daughters of Victory. She is a co-host on @hfchitchat on Twitter, a chat and community that celebrates the love of reading and writing historical fiction. She lives in her hometown of Mobile, Alabama.
