Diva

Daisy Goodwin

Publication date: HB 14/3/24

Publisher: Head of Zeus

My Review: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

SYNOPSIS

In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas is known simply as la divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty, she’s the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world. Yet her fame has been hard won: raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by a mother who mercilessly exploited her, Maria learned early in life how to protect herself.

When she meets the fabulously rich shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis, her isolation melts away. For the first time in her life, she believes she’s found a man who sees the woman rather than the legendary soprano. Desperately in love, Onassis introduces her to a life of unbelievable luxury, mixing with celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

And then, suddenly, it’s over. The international press announce that Onassis will marry the most famous woman in the world, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, leaving Maria to pick up the pieces.

In this remarkable novel, Daisy Goodwin brings to life a woman whose extraordinary talent, unremitting drive and natural chic made her a legend. But it was only in confronting the heartbreak of losing the man she loved that Maria Callas found her true voice.

MY REVIEW

I have just reluctantly emerged from the glamorous world of Maria Callas. I didn’t want this book to end!

Beautifully written, Daisy has captured the essence of La Divina – with her highs and lows; in her private life as well as her singing career. The constant worry that she was spending one of a finite number of ‘coins’ every time she performed, and her voice would not last forever. What would she do when it all ended? Well, she wanted nothing more than to settle down to a simple life with a loving husband and children.

She was a vulnerable woman, constantly looking for reassurance and love. She did not have it as a child as her mother favoured her older sister. Her husband wanted her for her talent and her earnings. Aristotle Onassis, the love of her life, perhaps loved her in his own way, but she was only ever going to be his mistress. The story ends after he marries Jackie Kennedy, for status rather than love, but still wants Maria in his life.

Daisy takes us on a trip through the world’s best opera houses, and we mingle with celebrities such as Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, Winston Churchill and Marilyn Monroe.

I am so glad Maria had her maid Bruna by her side all times, who looked after and understood her, and provided the mothering she so needed.

This book will have a place on my forever shelf as I know I will read it again. I am so grateful to Head of Zeus for sending me a proof. I have preordered the book – preorders are so important for authors – so I will have the set 💛

Can’t recommend it highly enough.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR – in her own words

When I was eighteen I went to Cambridge University to study history. MY first assignment was Queen Victoria and the media. I went to the library to consult her Diaries. She wrote sixty two million words in her life time and as I pulled out the first leather bound volume I felt overwhelmed by its size and weight. But then it fell open at the entry for 3rd Nov 1839, ” I saw me dearest Albert who was all wet in his white cashmere breeches with nothing on underneath.” As I laughed out loud, the other readers looked at me in disapproval. Queen Victoria, I decided then, was not the boot faced old bag with a bonnet I had imagined, but a woman after my own heart. 

All my novels have been set in the Victorian era: The American Heiress is about a dollar princess called Cora Cash who marriesan English duke; The Fortune Hunter is the story of Sisi, the beautiful Austrian Empress who came to England to hunt – in the novel Sisi meets Victoria. I enjoyed writing this encounter so much – Victoria”s voice came so easily to me, that I decided that my next next novel would be about the young Victoria. But as I started writing it, I thought it would make a great tv drama, which is how I ended up writing the PBS Masterpiece series Victoria, as well as my novel Victoria, a novel of a young Queen. 

When I am not immersed in the nineteenth century, I live in London with three dogs, two daughters and a husband.