The Queen of the Night
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Overview
From a writer praised by Junot Diaz as "the fire, in my opinion, and the light," comes a mesmerizing novel that follows one woman's rise from circus rider to courtesan to world-renowned diva.Lilliet Berne is a sensation of the Paris Opera, a legendary soprano with every accolade except an original role, every singer's chance at immortality. When one is finally offered to her, she realizes with alarm that the libretto is based on a hidden piece of her past. Only four could have betrayed her: one is dead, one loves her, one wants to own her. And one, she hopes, never thinks of her at all.As she mines her memories for clues, she recalls her life as an orphan who left the American frontier for Europe and was swept up into the glitzy, gritty world of Second Empire Paris. To survive, she transformed herself from hippodrome rider to courtesan, from empress' maid to debut singer, all the while weaving a complicated web of romance, obligation, and political intrigue. Featuring a cast of characters drawn from history, The Queen of the Night follows Lilliet as she moves closer to the truth behind the mysterious opera and the role that could secure her reputation--or destroy her with the secrets it reveals.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9781504701587
- ISBN-10: 1504701585
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date: February 2016
- Dimensions: 5.9 x 5.2 x 1.9 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
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Audio: The fabric of history
Audiophiles appreciate the entertainment value of listening to all kinds of good books but, every once in a while, an important, sweeping history makes us realize how much we can learn and how immediate and fascinating a well-read audio presentation can make complex, impressively researched ideas. Honestly, I’m not sure I could have read every page of Sven Beckert’s brilliant Empire of Cotton: A Global History, which was named one of the 10 best books of 2015 by the New York Times. But with Jim Frangione’s engaging narration, I didn’t want to miss a minute. Starting in Bronze-Age China and India, Beckert weaves thousands of years of cotton’s history into an intricate panorama of globalization; interconnected economic, social and political systems; and the technological innovations that became the impetus for the Industrial Revolution. With compassion for the misery of those who were forced into the cotton trade, he makes us reconsider the ways in which “cotton capitalism” rests on violence, slavery, the expropriation of land and colonialism.
A DIVA'S DESTINY
In the opening scene of Alexander Chee’s lush historical novel, The Queen of the Night, read by Lisa Flanagan, it’s 1882, and Lilliet Berne, a famed soprano whose rare, fragile voice has made her the toast of the Paris opera scene, walks into a ball at the Luxembourg Palace. She’s approached by a handsome stranger who has written a novel that’s to be the basis for a new opera in which she will star. All divas yearn to create a new role, but here’s the rub—it’s the story of Lilliet’s life, a story she’s hidden from the world, save from four people. As she seeks her betrayer, we are treated to a grand operatic epic, from her Minnesota childhood, her escape to Europe as part of a traveling circus, her flight from the circus to the streets of Paris, then to a ritzy brothel, and finally to her emergence as a great singer and courtesan, with all the requisite reversals of fortune, melodrama and gorgeous costumes, gorgeously described.
TOP PICK IN AUDIO
He called them his “Swans,” and they, the Kenneth-coifed and couture-clothed crème de la crème of New York society, called him their “True Heart.” These well-to-do women brought the charmingly catty, openly gay and overtly campy Truman Capote into their intimate inner circle. Though they were all beautiful and rich, Capote’s favorite was Babe Paley, the exquisite, kind, perfect wife of the larger-than-life, demandingly self-centered founder of CBS. Paley and Capote seemed like soulmates, spending endless hours together, sharing confidences, she revealing all and expecting her secrets to remain secret. In her extraordinary new novel, The Swans of Fifth Avenue, perfectly narrated by Cassandra Campbell and Paul Boehmer, Melanie Benjamin has channeled Capote and, even more expertly, Paley, taking us inside her exquisite homes, into her love for Capote and into his ultimate betrayal of her and her classy clique.
This article was originally published in the May 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.
Audio: The fabric of history
Audiophiles appreciate the entertainment value of listening to all kinds of good books but, every once in a while, an important, sweeping history makes us realize how much we can learn and how immediate and fascinating a well-read audio presentation can make complex, impressively researched ideas. Honestly, I’m not sure I could have read every page of Sven Beckert’s brilliant Empire of Cotton: A Global History, which was named one of the 10 best books of 2015 by the New York Times. But with Jim Frangione’s engaging narration, I didn’t want to miss a minute. Starting in Bronze-Age China and India, Beckert weaves thousands of years of cotton’s history into an intricate panorama of globalization; interconnected economic, social and political systems; and the technological innovations that became the impetus for the Industrial Revolution. With compassion for the misery of those who were forced into the cotton trade, he makes us reconsider the ways in which “cotton capitalism” rests on violence, slavery, the expropriation of land and colonialism.
A DIVA'S DESTINY
In the opening scene of Alexander Chee’s lush historical novel, The Queen of the Night, read by Lisa Flanagan, it’s 1882, and Lilliet Berne, a famed soprano whose rare, fragile voice has made her the toast of the Paris opera scene, walks into a ball at the Luxembourg Palace. She’s approached by a handsome stranger who has written a novel that’s to be the basis for a new opera in which she will star. All divas yearn to create a new role, but here’s the rub—it’s the story of Lilliet’s life, a story she’s hidden from the world, save from four people. As she seeks her betrayer, we are treated to a grand operatic epic, from her Minnesota childhood, her escape to Europe as part of a traveling circus, her flight from the circus to the streets of Paris, then to a ritzy brothel, and finally to her emergence as a great singer and courtesan, with all the requisite reversals of fortune, melodrama and gorgeous costumes, gorgeously described.
TOP PICK IN AUDIO
He called them his “Swans,” and they, the Kenneth-coifed and couture-clothed crème de la crème of New York society, called him their “True Heart.” These well-to-do women brought the charmingly catty, openly gay and overtly campy Truman Capote into their intimate inner circle. Though they were all beautiful and rich, Capote’s favorite was Babe Paley, the exquisite, kind, perfect wife of the larger-than-life, demandingly self-centered founder of CBS. Paley and Capote seemed like soulmates, spending endless hours together, sharing confidences, she revealing all and expecting her secrets to remain secret. In her extraordinary new novel, The Swans of Fifth Avenue, perfectly narrated by Cassandra Campbell and Paul Boehmer, Melanie Benjamin has channeled Capote and, even more expertly, Paley, taking us inside her exquisite homes, into her love for Capote and into his ultimate betrayal of her and her classy clique.
This article was originally published in the May 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.