Reviews
Praise for The Queen of the Night "A night at an opera you'll wish never-ending." -- Helen Oyeyemi, author of Boy, Snow, Bird and Mr. Fox " The Queen of the Night is an astonishing universe into which its lucky readers can dissolve completely, metamorphosing alongside its shapeshifting protagonist. Lilliet Berne steals her name from a gravestone and launches into a life of full-throated song; her voice is an intoxicant, and this book is a glorious performance. Chee's enveloping, seductive prose is perfectly matched to the circus world of the opera." -- Karen Russell, New York Times best-selling author of Swamplandia and Vampires in the Lemon Grove "A luminous tale of power and passion. Chee gives us an unforgettable heroine and a rich cast of characters--many of them real historical figures. The story dazzles and surprises right up until the final page." -- J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times best-selling author of Maine and The Engagements "One doesn't so much read Alexander Chee's The Queen of the Night as one is bewitched by it. Beneath its epic sweep, gorgeous language, and haunting details is the most elemental, and eternal, of narratives: that of the necessities and perils of self-reinvention, and the sorrow and giddiness of aspiring to a life of artistic transcendence." -- Hanya Yanagihara, author of A Little Life and The People in the Trees "Alexander Chee packs his extraordinary second novel, The Queen of the Night , to the seams with music, love, misery, and secrets. The kind of book--world--characters--you could live inside, happily, for days and days and never once want to come up for air." -- Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble and Magic for Beginners "Chee's lush and sweeping second novel uses a strikingly different setting from Edinburgh , his accomplished debut, but shares its musical themes and boldness...Chee's voice, at once dreamy and dramatic, never falters; Lilliet's cycle of reinventions is a moving meditation on the transformative power of fate, art, time, and sheer survival."-- Publishers Weekly "Life as opera: the intrigues and passions of a star soprano in 19th-century Paris...Richly researched, ornately plotted, this story demands, and repays, close attention." -- Kirkus , STARRED "We've been awaiting Chee's sophomore novel, and here it finally is! A sweeping historical story...and the kind I personally love best, with a fictional protagonist moving among real historical figures. Lilliet Berne is a diva of 19th-century Paris opera on the cusp of world fame, but at what cost? Queen of the Night traffics in secrets, betrayal, intrigue, glitz, and grit. And if you can judge a book by its cover, this one's a real killer." -- The Millions , Praise for The Queen of the Night "Chee's second novel is a mystery, a meditation, a lyrical jewel."-- Jane Ciabattari "Drama and intrigue ensue in this utterly engrossing novel about opera, obsession, and the secrets we keep from others. You won't want to miss this."-- Bookish, winter preview "Sweeping, engrossing second novel."-- DuJour magazine "A night at an opera you'll wish never-ending." -- Helen Oyeyemi, author of Boy, Snow, Bird and Mr. Fox " The Queen of the Night is an astonishing universe into which its lucky readers can dissolve completely, metamorphosing alongside its shapeshifting protagonist. Lilliet Berne steals her name from a gravestone and launches into a life of full-throated song; her voice is an intoxicant, and this book is a glorious performance. Chee's enveloping, seductive prose is perfectly matched to the circus world of the opera." -- Karen Russell, New York Times best-selling author of Swamplandia and Vampires in the Lemon Grove "A luminous tale of power and passion. Chee gives us an unforgettable heroine and a rich cast of characters--many of them real historical figures. The story dazzles and surprises right up until the final page." -- J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times best-selling author of Maine and The Engagements "One doesn't so much read Alexander Chee's The Queen of the Night as one is bewitched by it. Beneath its epic sweep, gorgeous language, and haunting details is the most elemental, and eternal, of narratives: that of the necessities and perils of self-reinvention, and the sorrow and giddiness of aspiring to a life of artistic transcendence." -- Hanya Yanagihara, author of A Little Life and The People in the Trees "Alexander Chee packs his extraordinary second novel, The Queen of the Night , to the seams with music, love, misery, and secrets. The kind of book--world--characters--you could live inside, happily, for days and days and never once want to come up for air." -- Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble and Magic for Beginners "Chee's lush and sweeping second novel uses a strikingly different setting from Edinburgh , his accomplished debut, but shares its musical themes and boldness...Chee's voice, at once dreamy and dramatic, never falters; Lilliet's cycle of reinventions is a moving meditation on the transformative power of fate, art, time, and sheer survival."-- Publishers Weekly "Life as opera: the intrigues and passions of a star soprano in 19th-century Paris...Richly researched, ornately plotted, this story demands, and repays, close attention." -- Kirkus , STARRED "We've been awaiting Chee's sophomore novel, and here it finally is! A sweeping historical story...and the kind I personally love best, with a fictional protagonist moving among real historical figures. Lilliet Berne is a diva of 19th-century Paris opera on the cusp of world fame, but at what cost? Queen of the Night traffics in secrets, betrayal, intrigue, glitz, and grit. And if you can judge a book by its cover, this one's a real killer." -- The Millions, "Life as opera: the intrigues and passions of a star soprano in 19th-century Paris. She was the last surviving member of a Minnesota farm family swept away by fever; "Lilliet Berne" is a name she borrowed off a gravestone by the East River on her way to board a ship to Europe in search of her mother's people. That mission is eventually abandoned as her original identity is buried under a succession of new incarnations and schemes for survival. She becomes a circus equestrienne, a high-level courtesan, a maid to the empress of France, a spy, and, ultimately, a "Falcon," the rarest breed of soprano--but double dealings, false steps, and bad bargains mark the way. When she is at the pinnacle of her fame, a writer brings her a book he plans to transform into an opera, hoping she will create the central role in its premiere. Reading it, she realizes with horror that the main character is her and that whoever has written it knows all her secrets. To find out who that is, she unfurls the whole of her complicated history and its characters, among them a tenor who's obsessed with her, a comtesse who uses her, her one real friend, and her only love. The story goes through the Franco-Prussian War, the Paris Commune, and the Third Republic, with cameos by Verdi, Bizet, P.T. Barnum, George Sand, and others. If the plot of Chee's ( Edinburgh , 2002) second novel is overly elaborate, the voice he has created for his female protagonist never falters. Always holding a few cards close to her chest, Lilliet Berne commands the power of "the ridiculous and beloved thief that is opera--the singer who sneaks into the palace of your heart and somehow enters singing aloud the secret hope of love or grief you hoped would always stay secret, disguised as melodrama; and you are so happy you have lived to see it done." Richly researched, ornately plotted, this story demands, and repays, close attention."--Kirkus, STARRED "We've been awaiting Chee's sophomore novel, and here it finally is! A sweeping historical story -- "a night at the opera you'll wish never-ending," says Helen Oyeyemi -- and the kind I personally love best, with a fictional protagonist moving among real historical figures. Lilliet Berne is a diva of 19th-century Paris opera on the cusp of world fame, but at what cost? Queen of the Night traffics in secrets, betrayal, intrigue, glitz, and grit. And if you can judge a book by its cover, this one's a real killer."--The Millions "A luminous tale of power and passion. Chee gives us an unforgettable heroine and a rich cast of characters--many of them real historical figures. The story dazzles and surprises right up until the final page." --J. Courtney Sullivan "A night at an opera you'll wish never-ending." --Helen Oyeyemi, Praise for The Queen of the Night "Drama and intrigue ensue in this utterly engrossing novel about opera, obsession, and the secrets we keep from others. You won't want to miss this."-- Bookish, winter preview "Sweeping, engrossing second novel."-- DuJour magazine "A night at an opera you'll wish never-ending." -- Helen Oyeyemi, author of Boy, Snow, Bird and Mr. Fox " The Queen of the Night is an astonishing universe into which its lucky readers can dissolve completely, metamorphosing alongside its shapeshifting protagonist. Lilliet Berne steals her name from a gravestone and launches into a life of full-throated song; her voice is an intoxicant, and this book is a glorious performance. Chee's enveloping, seductive prose is perfectly matched to the circus world of the opera." -- Karen Russell, New York Times best-selling author of Swamplandia and Vampires in the Lemon Grove "A luminous tale of power and passion. Chee gives us an unforgettable heroine and a rich cast of characters--many of them real historical figures. The story dazzles and surprises right up until the final page." -- J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times best-selling author of Maine and The Engagements "One doesn't so much read Alexander Chee's The Queen of the Night as one is bewitched by it. Beneath its epic sweep, gorgeous language, and haunting details is the most elemental, and eternal, of narratives: that of the necessities and perils of self-reinvention, and the sorrow and giddiness of aspiring to a life of artistic transcendence." -- Hanya Yanagihara, author of A Little Life and The People in the Trees "Alexander Chee packs his extraordinary second novel, The Queen of the Night , to the seams with music, love, misery, and secrets. The kind of book--world--characters--you could live inside, happily, for days and days and never once want to come up for air." -- Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble and Magic for Beginners "Chee's lush and sweeping second novel uses a strikingly different setting from Edinburgh , his accomplished debut, but shares its musical themes and boldness...Chee's voice, at once dreamy and dramatic, never falters; Lilliet's cycle of reinventions is a moving meditation on the transformative power of fate, art, time, and sheer survival."-- Publishers Weekly "Life as opera: the intrigues and passions of a star soprano in 19th-century Paris...Richly researched, ornately plotted, this story demands, and repays, close attention." -- Kirkus , STARRED "We've been awaiting Chee's sophomore novel, and here it finally is! A sweeping historical story...and the kind I personally love best, with a fictional protagonist moving among real historical figures. Lilliet Berne is a diva of 19th-century Paris opera on the cusp of world fame, but at what cost? Queen of the Night traffics in secrets, betrayal, intrigue, glitz, and grit. And if you can judge a book by its cover, this one's a real killer." -- The Millions, "A luminous tale of power and passion. Chee gives us an unforgettable heroine and a rich cast of characters--many of them real historical figures. The story dazzles and surprises right up until the final page." --J. Courtney Sullivan "A night at an opera you'll wish never-ending." --Helen Oyeyemi, "We've been awaiting Chee's sophomore novel, and here it finally is! A sweeping historical story -- "a night at the opera you'll wish never-ending," says Helen Oyeyemi -- and the kind I personally love best, with a fictional protagonist moving among real historical figures. Lilliet Berne is a diva of 19th-century Paris opera on the cusp of world fame, but at what cost? Queen of the Night traffics in secrets, betrayal, intrigue, glitz, and grit. And if you can judge a book by its cover, this one's a real killer."--The Millions "A luminous tale of power and passion. Chee gives us an unforgettable heroine and a rich cast of characters--many of them real historical figures. The story dazzles and surprises right up until the final page." --J. Courtney Sullivan "A night at an opera you'll wish never-ending." --Helen Oyeyemi
