"A story that dazzles and surprises right up until the final page." -J. Courtney Sullivan
From a ferociously talented writer, praised as "the fire, in my opinion. And the light," by Junot Diaz, comes a blazing portrait of one woman's rise from 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. In order to survive, she transformed herself from hippodrome rider to courtesan, from empress's 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 ever closer to the truth behind the mysterious opera and the role that could secure her reputation - or destroy her with the secrets it reveals.
About the Author
Alexander Chee won a Whiting Award for his first novel, Edinburgh, and is a recipient of the NEA Fellowship in Fiction and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Ledig House, and Civitella Ranieri. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Tin House, Slate, and NPR, among others, and he is a Contributing Editor at The New Republic. He lives in New York City.
Industry Reviews
National Bestseller "New York Times" Editor's Choice An Indie Next Pick One of the Most Anticipated Titles of 2016 by EW, Wired, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, BBC, Bustle, The Millions, Flavorwire, Book Riot, Brooklyn Magazine, and Bookish.
"The Queen of the Night is a radical act of art-making. A willingness on the part of the author to research, not only with factual intensity, but with an empathetic intensity that neither prioritizes history or the individual humans inside of it so much as it forces them to meet or collapse into each other. Quite simply, it s a very intricate devotion to character and story, to believing in what an act of language can become."" "Carrie Lorig, "Arts Atlanta"
"If Lilliet Berne were a man, she might have been what 19th-century novels would call a swashbuckler: the kind of destiny-courting, death-defying character who finds intrigue and peril (and somehow, always, a fantastic pair of pantaloons) around every corner Paris glittering swirl of artists, aristocrats, and underworld habitues lives vividly in [Alexander Chee's] descriptions; no gaslit chateau or jet-beaded evening dress goes unnoted or unadmired. " Entertainment Weekly"
"It just sounds terrific. It sounds like opera...It offers a rare, intriguing psychology: the heart as a buried place, where someone is hiding, singing words you can t quite hear." "The New Yorker"
"A sweeping, richly detailed historical novel about a young woman's tumultuous trajectory from circus rider to renowned soprano at the Paris Opera." "People "
