Acclaimed Author Returns To Roots To Launch Most Recent Novel

NAPERVILLE, IL — When Kathleen Rooney was studying for her undergraduate degree, she spent her summer and winter breaks working at Anderson's Bookshop, stocking and selling books, sharing reading recommendations and often daydreaming of what life would be like if a book she might write were to end up on those shelves.

Fast forward more than two decades, and Rooney has penned and co-written more than a dozen books.

She's returning to the Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville on Sept. 5 to launch her newest historical fiction "From Dust to Stardust." Inspired by the life and work of silent film era actress Colleen Moore, "From Dust to Stardust" follows fictional actress Doreen O'Dare as she transitions from a life on camera to dedicating her time to creating a massive dollhouse known as the Fairy Castle.

“The book wouldn’t exist if I hadn't seen the Fairy Castle when I was a kid," Rooney, who grew up in Woodridge, told Patch. She first encountered Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle when she was eight years old on a family visit to the Museum of Science and Industry.

"I remember loving the entire museum because it is a castle or palace unto itself," she said, recalling how Moore's Fairy Castle seemed like "a castle inside a castle" that was "as palatial and impressive as the big one."

She also vividly recalls being struck by the background the museum then featured about Moore and the actress's impassioned efforts to build the Fairy Castle and fill it with custom-made furnishings, functioning light fixtures, mother-of-pearl flooring and other dazzling details.

Moore, who"grew up loving dollhouses," got the idea to bring the Fairy Castle to life while she was in her 20s and her marriage was falling apart, Rooney explained. The actress hired set and lighting designers and interior decorators in her relentless pursuit to get every room of the multi-tiered, 2,000-pound castle just right.

Some of its most sumptuous and eccentric holdings include a tiny polar bear rug fashioned from ermine fur and outfitted with mouse teeth, miniature forks made from gold and the smallest Bible on the planet, complete with actual text.

Rooney said she believes the castle "became this super fun, immersive, alternative world to disappear into, which art can be for the people who make it and the people who consume it."

Just as the Fairy Castle was a vessel for Moore's passion and expression, "From Dust to Stardust" became something Rooney sought to fill with the inspiration she found in Moore, with the fascinating details she learned in researching the actress.

“Every time you write a book there’s an element of that," she said. "I have all this stuff I want to show people. What container do I put this stuff in that will help people see what I want them to see?"

The 279-page 'container' of "From Dust to Stardust," walks readers through the Fairy Castle and the life of Rooney's Doreen O'Dare, with 15 chapters named for each room in Moore's famous dollhouse.

As Rooney explained, her first experience being dazzled by Moore's Fairy Castle at age eight was crucial to the incarnation of this novel. Similarly, she said she believes each reader's personal immersion in a book is vital to fully realizing the true power a story can conjure.

"There’s this alchemy that happens when you’re dealing with books," Rooney told Patch.

"It's not just the description and information the writer commits to the page, but everything the reader brings with their life and experience."

She added, "Without a reader, the book is sort of a widget just sitting there. Art is a collaboration where the audience is required for the work to come to life."

Connecting readers and books was one of Rooney's favorite parts of working at the Anderson's Bookshops in both Naperville and Downers Grove.

"When you walk into a bookstore it’s kind of like romance," she explained of how people decide what books to buy and read."I’m going fall in love here, but who's it going to be? It's really fun."

On, Sept. 5, readers can visit the Naperville store for a chance to be swept off their feet by Rooney's "From Dust to Stardust," as she continues lives out her own childhood dream the way Colleen Moore/Doreen O'Dare did.

"Every time I come back, I just feel like my past self is over the moon," she said. "When I was working there in undergrad, I was imaging what it would be like to go into a place like Anderson’s and see something with my name on the spine on the shelf.”

Kathleen Rooney will be in conversation with Wheaton author Shelby Van Pelt for Anderson Bookshop's Sept. 5 launch of "From Dust to Stardust."

Rooney will answer questions and sign copies of the novel. One per guest is included in the $21 ticket price for this event. Click the link to buy tickets to the "From Dust to Stardust" event.

What: Kathleen Rooney "From Dust to Stardust" Book Release Event

When: Sept. 5 at 7 p.m.

Where: Anderson's Bookshop, 123 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville