The perfect name for this interesting story about great Opera singer Maria Callas. I remember this "diva" and the stories that surrounded her. Her great voice,, maybe the greatest ever.. Her temperamental incidents and her great love affair with Aristotle Onasis... I enjoyed reading about her life but especially the stories about her childhood and growing up with a mother she was sure didn't love her and favored her sister. Maybe that is why she was always so defensive with others. This book kept me wanting to read on ... I don't think you have to be older and remember this "Diva" to enjoy this story....Pick it up and I think you can spend some hours happily entertained.

Daisy Goodwin is renowned for taking famous women and beautifully combining fact and fiction. I especially refer to (Queen) Victoria which was then made into a delightful TV series. On this occasion she presents Maria Callas, world famous opera singer and definite diva. Add into her story names such as Aristotle Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Marilyn Munroe, Princess Grace and this is certainly an all star cast. Shamefully I admit I knew little about Maria so I was thrilled to go on this literary journey.

“One day, I am sure, you will be a great diva, one of the greatest sopranos the world has ever known, and you will think you are immortal.”

Daisy Goodwin gives readers front row seats to everything from backstage at the opera, to being on Aristotle’s boat, to dinners with Grace Kelly in Monte Carlo to the famous Marilyn Monroe's Happy Birthday performance at President Kennedy’s concert. There is backstory given to her family relationships and Maria’s search for love and acceptance. This was a woman who was dedicated to her profession, respecting her ‘God given’ talent and going to extreme lengths to care for her voice. I gained much respect for her and, despite fame and fortune, felt her life was incomplete in some ways. Being famous for the woman who Onassis discarded to marry Jackie Kennedy, there is much more to Maria’s life story than that.

‘… the two Golden Greeks were a celestial couple who transcended earthly morality.’

The research Daisy has undertaken throughout must be acknowledged in getting details accurate - everything from opera performances, to fashion, to celebrity events. Her writing slowly captures readers attention until they are onboard and eager to see how life would play out for the famous Maria Callas - whether it be the many triumphs or the many tragedies throughout her life.

The fan shrugged. “Whatever happens there will be drama. It is Callas, after all.”







This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Thank you to the author Daisy Goodwin, publishers St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of DIVA. All views are mine.

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

1. "My Mother was worse than the nazis," the main character complains, because her mother made her sing for their food and favored her sister. My mother made me get a newspaper route when I was 9, but that didn't make her a nazi. I don't know if the author is shortsighted, or the character is, but I almost DNFed here. I really can't abide protagonists this wrapped up in navel gazing.

2. There is just so much in this book that doesn't make sense, such as the protagonist's mother asking her for $100 for their "daily bread." At the time she would have requested this sum, it would have been worth a lot more than a month's worth of groceries. Apparently, TIME magazine mischaracterizes the protagonist's response to her mother, saying the diva tells the old woman to "drown herself." And even though this book is historical fiction, the author isn't providing enough context for me to know if this interview business is historical or dramatic. It wouldn't have been hard to clarify, but I think the muddling is intentional. Unfortunately, I don't like to give up my chew toys, so I'm too annoyed to just move on to the next part of the story.

Rating: DNF @ 10%
Recommend? Maybe, if you really love historical fiction and diva drama
Finished: Jan 18 '24
Format: Digital arc, Kindle
Read this book if you like:
🕰 historical fiction
🚂 twentieth-century fiction
💃 divas
💇‍♀️ women's coming of age
🫖 high society

This book took me a while to read not because I got bored just because it kind of felt like two separate books the affair and the after the affair.
Maria Callas was a famous opera singer and I really like the book for those singing parts. The parts that felt like she was a real person. You could tell that was her love. Her affair with Onassis for me was a bit much. I felt like she was such a strong woman that let this man who. She really did love take so much advantage of her. There were some explicit parts that to me, felt forced and over bearing. I really wanted the book to continue on with more of what happened after the split of the 2 of them. I wanted to see her stand on her own two feet. Instead it ends rather abruptly so abruptly I thought I turned my kindle pages too fast.

This book does do a good job of going back and forth in time to when Marie was younger and her current life I did appreciate that. This book for me was a 3.5. I love reading Daisy Goodwin book but this was not one of my favorites.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me an ARC for my honest review.

Diva by Daisy Goodwin follows opera singer Maria Callas through her ups and downs of her career. Born in the United States, but grew up in Greece when her mother wanted to make sure that Maria and her sister Jackie got the proper training for their singing careers. Maria turned out to be her mothers cash cow during the war when Nazi's occupied Greece. Later in her career Maria married her manager who only loves her money. She soon meets Aristotle Onassis, who she laters have a four year affair with. The book was overall ok. I thought it was a bit slow.

Maria Callas was an extremely famous opera star, long before she met Aristotle Onassis. In fact, she was arguably the best opera singer of her time, and perhaps of all time. The novel, "Diva", is an historical novel, that introduces us to Madam Callas when she is at the top of her game. We learn about her childhood, her marriage, and , of course, about her affair with Mr. Onassis. What we don't learn is what is true and what was pure embellishment. Unlike many other historical novelists, we are not made privy to where Ms. Goodwin got some of her facts. Usually this comes during or after the acknowledgement portion of the book.

While I was too young to really remember Maria Callas, the singer, I do recall the scandal that followed Mrs. Kennedy's marriage to Mr. Onassis. And of course, I can't forget how Onassis just dropped Ms. Dallas like a hot potato.

The book is quite interesting. The characters interact with famous movie stars, royal figures, and one journalist who was notorious for hobnobbing with the rich and famous. I truly enjoyed the whole thing.

Maria Callas, la Divina is just superb in all her performances, you can really feel her pain and anguish when she’s on stage and it was refreshing to read a fictional tale on her personal life and what troubles must have laid ahead for her. I was impressed by Daisy Goodwin’s knowledge and keeping to facts and timelines and I felt for Maria the whole way through. Even though Onassis is in two thirds of the book, he is crucial to her conflict of wanting to belong and feel safe with someone she can trust. Of course, the tragedy here is he will never propose and even though he mistreats her emotionally and physically, you can tell Maria will always feel a link to him forever. I almost wish Onassis would not have been so prevalent in the story and that Maria would have had more self respect for herself than in the final chapter, but overall, she is magnificent and she shines on every chapter. Her strengths are her love for the people who may not love her the same way.

I could not get enough of this book and I wanted more for Maria, thank you to Daisy Goodwin, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions reflected here are my own.

Diva is a perfect title for this story. In fact there are harsher words that could have been used. I really enjoyed this as I was unfamiliar with the story. I was aware of Onassis and that he had married Jackie but that was it. I knew nothing about Maria Callas. I hope in the end she died happy.

I enjoyed Diva by Daisy Goodwin. Even though the book focuses on the relationship between Maria and Onassis, it made me curious about them both to Google and learn more about them and the worlds they lived in. I felt the author did a good job of connecting the dots concerning Maria's professional life and personal life. I wish the author had provided more evidence of research. I'm always curious about "the rest of the story."
Thank you #netgalley for an advanced copy of #diva.

I didn’t know much about Maria Callas when I picked this book up. I knew she was a famous opera singer and that she had an affair with Aristotle Onasis and that’s about it.

The book really delved into the life of Maria the opera star/diva. The people who take advantage of her and the way she doesn’t stand up for herself made me cringe. Usually I shy away from books featuring women facing mistreatment without asserting themselves, but the engaging writing made the book more appealing to me; I’m glad I gave it a chance.

If you are a Callas fan interested in the salacious details of her relationships, this is the book for you!

This was a first of Goodwin's books for me. I loved seeing the story behind such a famous couple in history. The details and emotions evoked really made you feel like you are there. It gives you such a different perspective of the people in the stories that are told of famous people. Even though it was a blend of facts and fiction, it was a great story and a peek into the lives of Maria Callas and Aristo Onassis. Wonderful detail and descriptions of all the amazing places that they went and of the opera performances. If you like knowing what happens beyond the surface stories of the rich and famous, then this book is for you.

She is possessed of an immense gift, but the stability and love she sought remained out of reach.

Maria Kalogeropoulo is born in New York to Greek immigrant parents, easy-going George and very ambitious Litza She has an older sister, Jackie, who is everything that Maria is not (pretty, blonde, thin) and upon whom Litza dotes. It is Maria, however, who proves to have a talent that will lead her one day to international fame and success. Litza is unhappy living in America, and announces to George that she is going to take both girls back to Greece with her when Maria is just 13, where she says Maria can be trained to make the most of her amazing voice. George, whom Maria adores, is more than happy to be rid of Litza and allows them to go. As this was the mid 1930’s, when Spain’s Civil War and World War II were about to erupt, the timing proved less than wise. Maria was able to find a teacher worthy of her talents, but even as she studied her craft her mother used her to secure food and other necessities in those times of depravation. She grows up assured of her talent, but feeling unattractive and unworthy of love. This girl becomes Maria Callas, known as La Divina, generally acknowledged to be the most gifted soprano in the history of opera, both for her flawless voice and dramatic flair. She marries a much older Italian, Tita Meneghini, who goes on to manage her career for her (Maria comes to suspect that he loves Callas the gifted singer, not Maria the woman), and mingles with the height of society (the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Prince Ranier and Princess Grace of Monaco, WInston Churchill, President and Mrs Kennedy, to name just a few). When gossip columnist and reknowned hostess Elsa Maxwell introduces her to another famous Greek, shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, sparks fly between the two. Their passionate affair will break up both of their marriages, and Maria believes that she has at last found someone who loves her for herself and who will forge a life with her, but even as her voice begins its inevitable decline Onassis becomes fixated on the newly widowed Jackie Kennedy. Losing Ari provides inspiration for her on-stage performances, but she must learn to live with the heartbreak.

Before starting Diva, I knew three things about Maria Callas….she was one of the most famous opera singers of her time, she was Greek (I was only partly correct there), and she had had an affair with Aristotle Onassis prior to his marriage to Jackie Kennedy. As I began to read, I realized that I in fact knew very little about an amazing and complicated woman, and voraciously read the book in two sittings. The story is not told in a linear timeframe; it starts with a scene in Athens in the winter of 1940 between Maria and her teacher Elvira de Hidalgo, and the very next chapter is in Paris 1960, on the first night that Maria will be seen in public after Onassis’ marriage to Jackie Kennedy. Maria is acutely aware that the world wants to see how see is reacting to being thrown over by her former lover, and she is determined to act as if she hasn’t a care in the world. I am of an age to remember when Diana, Princess of Wales, wore what became known as the “Revenge Dress” on the night that Prince Charles admitted on television to having cheated on her….well, Maria wrote the playbook on how to hold one’s head up high in the face of betrayal, with the help that night (at least in the novel) of Elizabeth Taylor and Maria’s longtime friend, director Franco Zeffirelli. Weaving back and forth through Maria’s fascinating, glamorous, volatile, enviable yet tragic life was thoroughly enjoyable. While this is a novel rather than an actual biography I felt that I gained an appreciation for the talent, hard work and sacrifice that turned an insecure, lonely girl into a beautiful diva. I knew before I started the book how her affair with Onassis ended (I think most everyone knows at least that much about Maria Callas), but couldn’t help hoping that it would somehow work out Readers who enjoy authors like Paula McLain, Marie Benedict, and Nancy Horan would find this an excellent addition to their TBR list, as would fans of the world of opera in general and Maria Callas in particular. I am not an opera fan by any stretch of the imagination, but enjoyed peeking behind the curtains at the drama, jealousies and rivalries that infuse that world. If at times things seem to wander into soap opera territory….well, the world of opera is known for being a bit over the top, so that seemed perfectly normal. Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for allowing me access to a novel that exceeded my already-high expectations and introduced me to a woman who defined the term diva.

A very entertaining read about opera diva Maria Callas and her life and loves. The story goes backward and forward, showing the reader glimpses of Callas performing, drowning up, traveling, meeting people like Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, and the Duke and Duchess of 'Windsor. She also embarks on an affair that will break her heart.

The author suggests that there is embellishment here. It's hard for me to say how much as I am not all that familiar with Callas' life story. But overall this is not really a character study as much as entertainment. I'm thinking Diva is a bit like The Crown, taking some real life people and events and imagining many of the details.

Thanks to the publisher for providing this advance copy for review.

This book truly took me on a journey. Diva is a historical fiction novel about real-life opera singer Maria Callas, her career, and her infamous affair with millionaire Aristotle Onassis, the second husband of Jackie Kennedy. It jumps deftly through many years of her life to highlight her talent, career, and spirit that truly made her la Divina.

Despite not knowing who Maria Callas was before picking up this book, I was utterly enthralled by her story. She was such a strong character with distinctly human flaws and foibles and a talent that gripped the world for a time. Her story was as enthralling as her performances are said to be. Though none of the characters were very easy to like, I still found myself yearning for Maria to succeed every time she took the stage or was faced with a choice. The prose flowed easily, and I found myself reluctant to put the book down and eager to pick it back up again. The glamor of her career across America, Europe, and the Mediterranean was perfectly intermingled with the ghosts of her ugly duckling years, a youth spent in war-torn Athens, and the complicated and bitter relationships she holds with her mother and sister.

Diva is an easy 4.5 stars for me. It was on track to be a perfect 5, but I found myself put off by the sexual elements of the plot. Obviously, love and intimacy are central to the story being told, so it wasn't the inclusion of these scenes that bothered me. It was the way they were executed that threw me off because the prose in those scenes or references to them felt incongruous to the rest of the novel. It broke the spell and pulled me out of the narrative. Perhaps this was intentional on the author's part to help convey some of the themes, but it didn't resonate with me.

Nevertheless, this book left me perplexed in the best way. It's a complicated and star-studded tale featuring the likes of Winston and Clementine Churchill, the Kennedys, Grace Kelly, and Marilyn Monroe, depicted in a complex and shockingly human way. I hardly knew how to feel about many of the characters - except Onassis. (I know exactly how I feel about him.) The life of Maria Callas plays out like an opera, tragic and passionate, and Diva reads like the tale of a goddess tricked into sacrificing her divinity for a deceitful lover. She is so powerful and so vulnerable, and that is what makes her tale so compelling.

I would wholeheartedly recommend Diva by Daisy Goodwin to lovers of historical fiction, old Hollywood, and engrossing stories about complex, formidable women. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I grew up singing. I grew up hearing records of Maria Callas. I had aspirations of being a Diva. I was good, but not exceptional. What I did learn from this book was that she had a gift. She had to work for what she achieved. Practice, rest, perform. My take-away was than no one really realized or understood how difficult it was to continue to do flawless performances with all of the other issues in her life. She demanded flawlessness from herself.

Maria's love affair with Onassis was part of her life, as was her interacting with her dysfunctional family, and being in contact with well known actors, actresses, heads of state, and so many others. Keeping her head high when Onassis married Jackie Kennedy was heartbreaking for her.

Demanding perfection from herself was her biggest issue and when she couldn't do perfection, she was her own worst critic. As she would walk into a new venue, she was sure everyone would hate her and they were talking about her, then the adulation of the audience and she was again The Diva.

I wanted to LOVE this book. Sadly, the book moved slowly and the descriptions of Maria Callas' body type, clothing, hair, and locations were discussed in such detail, I lost track of where the chapter was going. Having said that, I did learn some of the backstory of her life and that was information I hadn't known.

If you learn something, I feel the book is worthwhile. 3 stars. I didn't love it, but I could put it down and return to the story without much difficulty.

I had admittedly never heard of Maria Callas before picking up this book, and I had only heard of Aristotle Onassis because his last name sounded familiar from Jackie Kennedy. So I was surprised when I first began to read this book and read the author's note about this being an almost-true story of Maria Callas.

Upon reading this, I want to consume so much more media about Maria Callas; she is a fascinating person, and although I found her somewhat dislikeable at points, I thought she was portrayed very well as a well-rounded and flawed character - she seemed very human despite her grandiose and fame. Even though I was not familiar with her before picking up this book, I quickly became a fan, rooting for her successes (and for Aristotle Onassis to get away from her and leave her alone!).

My main criticism with this book is the fact that it ended after her and Aristotle's break-up; for a book that is named after her and claims to be all about her, it seemed to truly be about her in relation to him. I just wish we could have seen a little more about her life afterwards or even just her life during without everything leading back to him; I understand that he was a huge part of her life and her motivations, but surely not every single thought she had was about him. It was just a little frustrating to see her be built up as a strong woman character and then end the story after they broke up and he marries Jackie Kennedy.

3.5 stars rounded up!

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.*

I was excited to read this book - the fictionalized version of the love story between Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis. I read Greek Fire years ago and was curious to see how the story would be handled by Daisy Goodwin.

I liked the take on their love story, as well as Goodwin's interpretation of Callas' motivations and feelings. Her rendering of Elsa Maxwell as a little mean elflike person was entertaining. I remember crying when I read Greek Fire, but this version didn't make me sad as much as mad.

Aristotle Onassis was an ass. He did not deserve her.

One major difference between Greek Fire and this story is that there is a claim that Maria had Onassis' baby and that it died quickly after birth. Greek Fire claimed that Onassis had forced her to have an abortion. Either way this event seems to be the beginning of the end for them.

I very much wish the story had gone on after their breakup. I guess what I wanted was a story of HER. Not THEM.

*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.

This is the second book I've read with Maria Callis as a character. Granted, both books are historical fiction, but I don't find Maria to be a likable person. I did not enjoy reading from her point of view.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

This is my favorite type of historical fiction, a story about a strong woman. I enjoyed the way this book explored the life behind the fame of Maria Callas. From Maria's troubled relationship with her mother to the glittering star studded parties readers are immersed in Maria's world and discover what shaped her and drove her to be the star she was. Was it the life Maria wanted or did she wish for more? More fame? More love?

Diva is a novelization of the life of the great opera singer Maria Callas, focusing primarily on the years of her romance with Aristotle Onassis, which ended when he married Jackie Kennedy. Maria's greatest fear is losing her voice, which she considers a gift from the gods. There are a lot of references to Greek tragedies in the book. I found it very entertaining, I didn't know any of this history, and it's kind of like watching the Crown, I kept googling names and events, most of which were real people. Despite the title and Callas' reputation, you feel really sorry for her in this book, she felt unloved by her mother which has transferred into feelings about her career and relationships. And now I am listening to Callas's operas online, and based on the reactions of so many in the book, only wish I could have experienced her in person.