The Queen of the Night - Hardcover

Chee, Alexander

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0618663029 ISBN 13: 9780618663026

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016

Synopsis

“This book is a glorious performance . . . Enveloping, seductive.” —Karen Russell

A National Bestseller, the mesmerizing story of one woman’s rise from circus rider to courtesan to world-renowned diva—"a brilliant performance" (Washington Post).

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 this title

From the Back Cover

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

From the Inside Flap

From a writer praised by Junot Díaz as “the fire, in my opinion, and the light,” 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—a singer’s chance at immortality. When one is finally offered to her, she realizes with alarm that the libretto is based on a secret from her past she thought long buried. Only four people 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.
 
The answer may come from her past. Orphaned as a child, she left the American frontier for Europe and was swept into the glamour and the terror of Second Empire Paris. In order to survive, she transformed herself from hippodrome rider to courtesan, from empress’s maid to debut singer, weaving a complicated web of romance, obligation, and political intrigue in her wake.
 
With a myriad of upending twists and a rich 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.
 

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0618663029
• ISBN 13: 9780618663026
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 576