Star-Dust: A Story of an American Girl

Lilly Becker spends her afternoons perched at a rented piano in Mrs. Schum’s boarding house, fingers chasing Rubinstein’s “Melody in F” while her imagination paints springtime scenes of coloratura bubbles and Greek friezes. The cramped parlor, the creaking floorboards, and the chatter of her fellow boarders—Estelle, Sydney, the Kemble twins, and the shy Snow Horton—form a vivid backdrop to her growing love for music and wordplay. As she navigates school rivalries and the simple pleasures of winter games on the front steps, the narrative captures the texture of a 1920s Midwestern childhood.

Beyond the notes, Lilly’s world is a patchwork of family expectations, a mother’s rhythmic rocking, and Mrs. Schum’s weary hospitality, all of which shape her restless spirit. Through whispered arguments over buttered bread and secret experiments with peroxide, she teeters on the edge of adolescence, yearning for a voice that can carry beyond the boarding‑house walls. The story invites listeners to hear the music of everyday moments and to feel the quiet courage of a girl who dreams of a larger stage.