The Stars Shine Down Novel By Sidney Sheldon. The Stars Shine Down is a 1992 novel by Sidney Sheldon. The novel tells the story of Lara Cameron, a successful real estate developer who came from a broken family in Nova Scotia. Lara's mother and her male twin die in their childbirth and her Scottish father, who collects rents for boarding houses, doesn't want her. Early in life, she learns to fend for herself and how to get her own way in a male-dominated world.