Diva by Daisy Goodwin is a novel about Maria Callas the opera singer. The novel is expansive. The story goes back to when Maria was a young teenager in Greece during the Nazi occupation and ending as an adult in her mid-forties.

Ms. Goodwin’s development of Maria Callas’ character is adept and complicated. Maria Callas’ commitment to her singing was unmatched at the time. She rarely ever faltered in her dedication to her art. Ms. Goodwin does an awesome job bringing Maria Callas to life. You feel all of her emotions through out the book. Maria is strong, charismatic and famous but still struggled with the same things every woman has when it comes to love.

Besides her career, the book also examines Maria Callas’ relationship with her mother and sister, as well as, her first husband/manager. Ms. Goodwin clearly shows how much Maria wanted to be loved as a person. This desire clearly shows why she fell in love with Aristotle Onassis. Unfortunately, Onassis abused Maria psychologically and manipulated her for the years they were together. They never married. The final straw of Onassis’ psychological abuse was that he never told Maria that he was to marry Jacqueline Kennedy.

Ms. Goodwin’s excellent writing kept me involved and engaged from the very beginning. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves to read historical fiction. I can’t wait to see what Ms. Goodwin has in store for her readers next.

I would like to thank Ms. Goodwin, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really fascinating read! I didn't know really anything about Maria Callas, but certainly know Jackie Kennedy. I was so excited to learn more about this story. Historical fiction is always a favorite, but this was especially good! It was such a unique story, and it was so well told. The narrator was wonderful, the writing was stellar. The snippets of music throughout the audiobook really helped bring the story to life! The only thing keeping me from giving this 5 stars was the length. It felt like it dragged just a bit in some places.

I was especially fond of the role Bruna played in the story, and thought she was so well written for a supporting character!

I received a complimentary copy of this book (and audiobook!). All opinions expressed are my own.

Daisy Goodwin might just be one of my new favorite authors.

When I first started this book, I was a little hesitant because of the liberties I knew she would be taking with real life events. She took something that actually happened and added some fictional elements (as she said she would do in the Author's Note). I think that is really important to remember while reading this, so if anyone is looking for a completely faithful telling of Maria Callas' life, maybe read a biography. However, any reservations I had about reading this went away pretty quickly because of how incredibly well written this book was.

Maria as a character was beautifully written, and she goes from being powerful but naive, to insecure, to even more powerful and much wiser. Aristotle also has this strange character development, but it isn't really development because he was like that all along. He just started to show his true colors as Maria spent more time with him and his love of the chase wore off with her. Honorable mention for Elsa being written as a two-faced social climber who I became absolutely sick of. The plot itself was nothing crazy, again because it is based on a true story. It is hard to make something an epic story when you have to stay somewhat faithful to the actual order of events. I would say the best parts of this book were the characters themselves and the writing, not so much the plotline.

Some of my favorite quotes:
"But I don't think you have ever loved me, Tita, only my voice."

"Greek was the language of her tempestuous adolescence, a tongue in which she had never learned to hold back."

"How fitting it was that she was singing Norma tonight, a woman who betrayed her sacred duty to her people for the affections of a faithless man."

"In the past he had been her rock, but now he was a pillar of sand: she had only to lean on him a little bit and he would crumble into nothing."

"She had not given him the right to make a joke at her expense."

"But now she realized that had been comfort, not love."

"Quickly, before she could change her mind, she opened the lid. As she sat down she noticed that her fingertips were gray with dust."

Before reading this, I had no interest or knowledge of Maria Callas or opera in general. I now have a great respect for her. Her story is pretty miserable at times, but she always triumphs. Her independence, self-respect, work ethic, and talent should be admired by more people in my generation. I am glad that Daisy Goodwin wrote this about her so more people like me can read about her (quite feminist) story.

I LOVED this story of Maria Callas, legendary opera singer and diva. It was well written and engaging- one that I couldn't wait to pick back up again. The details of Maria's career, her complicated family life and the bittersweet love story with Ari Onassis was absolutely fascinating. The author did an amazing job of telling Maria's story and showing what a strong woman she was. My only criticism is that it ended too quickly and the ending felt abrupt. Still loved it. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars
Thanks to #NetGalley and #St.Martin's Press for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an arc!

Maria Callas is the definition of a diva: an elegant, Goddess-like opera singer, perhaps the best singer in the world for her time. Maria knows her talents and is dedicated to her craft, always demanding perfection from herself. She is a bold woman who does what she wants, and she is definitely not the type to just be quiet and look pretty on someone’s arm. People joke that Maria has no heart, but her capacity for love can’t be denied once she gets aboard Aristotle Onassis’s boat, the Christina. This is where the trouble starts for Maria, as her passionate love affair with Onassis takes off.

This story follows along Maria’s career and her relationship with Onassis, while also giving insight on her past, her tumultuous relationship with her family, and her relationship with her husband/manager, Tita. This novel also shows the struggle between Maria and Callas as two different people, as Maria desires to be loved for who she is and not just for her fame and money.

I unfortunately had not heard of either Maria Callas or Aristotle Onassis before reading this book, but it was very interesting to learn about their lives and affair. I loved seeing the different layers of Maria, and it was fun to read about all of the high society people that Onassis and Maria rubbed elbows with aboard the Christina.

The writing kept me engaged from the very first chapter, and I enjoyed how Maria was depicted. I appreciated that someone like Maria, who was strong and charismatic and famous, had the same relatable struggles that all women have eventually when it comes to love. Maria also went through some tremendous hardships in war torn Athens, and it was nice to read about a woman who truly became famous on her own from her own merit, rather than being born into wealth or fame.


I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, but also to anyone who enjoys a scandal. If you’re interested in the 1950s/1960s, you should learn about the time’s most iconic diva.

Diva by Daisy Goodwin tells the story of the scandalous affair between Maria Callas, La Divina of operatic legend, and Ari Onassis, Greek billionaire who eventually married Jackie Kennedy. Maria, the main character, is swept off her feet by Onassis' charm when she and her current husband meet him. Onassis, too, is married at the time, but that isn't enough to stop the beginning of a passionate affair that leads to divorces on both sides.
Maria hangs on to the hope that once they are free, Ari will marry her. Indeed, their deep connection of Greek heritage and strong personalities appears to make a solid match. But as time goes on, Maria not only worries about how much longer her voice will last, but what is her relationship leading towards. The final straw that breaks the thrall under which Ari has held Callas for so long, is his marriage to Jackie Kennedy, which she discovers when reading the paper. Maria then returns to her first love, singing and the stage, to begin again.
Goodwin draws vivid pictures of life backstage and onstage in an opera house, and paints a dreamy image of sailing on a luxury boat without a specific goal beyond pleasing your partner.
A lovely, stirring tribute to a diva like no other.

Diva tells the story of Maria Callas, the famous Greek soprano. I knew virtually nothing about her so I was intrigued by the story. The story opens as Maria is finding out that her lover-Aristotle Onassis-has wed Jackie Kennedy. Through flashbacks, her past is revealed-from being born in NYC, then living in Greece during the Nazi occupation and her subsequent professional career and toxic relationship with her mother. The light brought to the story is in her passionate relationship with Ari Onassis which I had known nothing of.
After reading the story, I looked up some videos of Callas singing-what a singular talent! I wish that I could say that I loved this book though. Unfortunately, I found the writing kind of simplistic and Callas to be somewhat one-dimensional.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for my honest review.

This novel has a lot of potential for folks that enjoy historical fiction and the opera.

I wanted to listen to this because it mentioned a well-known opera singer, Maria Callas, who I was unfamiliar with and it included Aristotle Onasis. I know a bit about him because I’ve read about Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis before, so I thought this would be another perspective to read more about her.

I found Maria to be quite flighty and annoying, honestly, her behaviors and learned uppityness just rubbed me the wrong way. I kept hoping she would learn to not behave like that as more men around her kept taking advantage of who she was and what they wanted. She was married to a man that is about 30 years older than her “just so he could take care of her” with his money…but he basically steals money from her. Then she begins flirting and even visiting Aristotle Onasis and his wife for extended vacations. Y’all know how I feel about infidelity in books [hint: unnecessary and bleh].

As this happened I just found that I was floating through the novel, not connected to Maria since she really wasn’t much of a likable character, and just continued to roll my eyes at the perceived “drama” stirred by Maria’s friend and at times even Maria herself.

3.5 stars rounded down

Historical fiction is not usually my go-to genre, but I was intrigued enough by the story of Maria Callas, the famed Greek-American soprano, and her ill fated love affair with Aristotle Onassis to give this one a request. It read more like a biographical account than a story, and with the exception of a few flashbacks interspersed in the already non-linear account, we did not get to see much about Maria's young life and how she rose to stardom. She is already at the height of her fame and career when we meet her, married to her much older Italian husband and manager, Tita. We see glimpses of her life in high society, being revered as the greatest singer in the world, but she always feels as if the world only loves Callas, La Divina, not the woman, Maria. This feeling changes when she meets Greek business tycoon Aristotle Onassis, and they find an instant connection both being Greeks of humble origins that have made it to the upper echelons of society. They embark on an affair, with Maria leaving her husband, and Aristotle eventually being divorced by his wife, but much to her dismay he does not seem keen on marrying her. In what plays out much like the operas she performed so well, there is love, loss, and betrayal. The ultimate betrayal occurs when Aristotle marries the most famous widow in the world, Jackie Kennedy, leaving Maria in the shadows yet again. Though she ultimately came out victorious in her career and did not take him back when he came sniffing around again, as they always do, it is tragic in hindsight knowing that her life was short lived afterwards. Maria was not an entirely sympathetic figure, being cold, demanding, and morally grey at best, cheating on her husband but rationalizing that it was with someone she loved, but Aristotle was painted as the truer villain. Content to cheat on his wife, who also had her share of extracurricular activities, he took Maria's love for granted until something shinier and more convenient came along. Men are all the same, Greek playboy or not. As a fan of opera and classical music, I enjoyed the many references to songs I am familiar with, and also was excited to read about many of the sites in Athens and Greece beyond that I've now visited myself. However, this was still a long and somewhat dry read, despite the juicy details, which at times made it difficult to get through.

After a slow start, in my opinion, I was hooked. Trying to understand what Maria would have been feeling and thinking as she became the most famous female soprano, was fascinating. It was troubling to hear about her relationship with her mother and I can’t imagine having a mom that would push a child so hard and for her own purposes was heart wrenching. I didn’t know much about Maria Callas, but I’m so glad I picked up this booked and learned about her life. I know this is a work of fiction based on an actual life, but it was well written and I felt like I was right there as the story unfolded. Like the rest of us, Maria made good choices and bad, but she lived her life her way and not always for herself. It’s easy to imagine that the rich and famous don’t have some of the same problems as the rest of us, but this story made her relatable with problems like the rest of us, only she was famous and did travel in circles 99% of us will never know. Loved the story, the writing and will be picking up more by this author.

My knowledge of Maria Callas, the renowned opera singer, was mostly based on her affair with Aristotle Onassis who broke her heart when he married Jacqueline Kennedy. This book by Daisy Goodwin was a well written history of Maria and her fame before the richest man in the world was ever part of it.

Maria was born in New York but went back to Greece with her mother and sister when she was 13. She and her family were in Greece during the Nazi occupation and Maria often sang for the Germans to make money so that her family could eat. Despite her immense talent, her mother always favored her sister and only seemed interested in Maria when she could exploit her and her beautiful voice to make money for the family to live. She married but her husband was mostly her manager and never really saw her as a woman. With her glorious voice, flair for the dramatic, and striking beauty, she appeared at the grandest opera houses in the world and was referred to as 'the divine one'. In 1957, she met Aristotle Onassis, then the richest man in the world. He didn't like opera much but he adored Maria and they began an affair, despite the fact that he was already married. Her life changed dramatically and he introduced her to a life of extravagant luxury. He showered her with jewelry and introduced her to the important people of their time. Maria felt that for the first time someone saw her as a woman and not just as an opera singer. As quickly as their affair started, it was suddenly over when Aristotle married Jacqueline Kennedy. Maria was left on her own to pick up the pieces of her life and live without the love of her life.

I found this book very interesting and thought that it was a good look at Maria Callas who was renowned in the world of opera and much more that a betrayed woman whose love left her for another as the media at the time would lead you to believe. The book gave her background and her daily struggles and really made her into a real person instead of just a footnote in history.

This is a fabulous historical fiction novel about opera diva Maria Callas written by the incomparable Daisy Goodwin. I was drawn to this novel after loving Goodwin's Victoria. Once again, she has heavily researched and written about a public figure that I didn't know all that much about. And, of course, this page-turner sent me down the Google rabbit hole, looking up events described in the book.
Lots of famous public figures make appearances: Winston Churchill, Aristotle Onassis, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, and many many more, with very few of them unscathed in some of the salacious storytelling.
I highly recommend this to readers who love historical fiction based on real life events.
Thanks to #StMartinsPress for gracing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This fictionalized biography tells the story of Maria Callas's affair with Aristotle Onassis. Until she meets Aristos, Maria is reasonably content--she has a great career, although she is plagued with fears about how long she will be able to sing; a decent, if passionless, marriage; and even if she estranged from her mother and sister, at least they are no longer contributing to the feelings of inferiority that affected her early life.

But then she meets Aristotle Onassis and is drawn into a life of glamour, comfort, and idleness. While at first she avoids his advances, she eventually gives in, discovering a passion she never knew with her husband, which gives additional depth to her performances. She loves Onassis, but he remains elusive and soon she suspects he is seeing other women, particularly Lee Radziwill.

This novel breathes life into Maria Callas, who I remember once viewing as a terrifying looking woman. If Daisy Goodwin's interpretation of Callas is accurate, she was a very vulnerable woman who never got over being the fat sister. I loved this book #Diva #NetGalley

I know very little about Maria Callas save that she is considered one of the best opera singers throughout time. I knew she had a reputation about her diva like behavior and was admired the world over. I've enjoyed Daisy Goodwin's books before and on that reason I picked this one up.

This story explores Maria's background (her upbringing in the USA and Greece) and how her strength and determination made her into the singer she was. She seems to have been a difficult personality - strong and yet beset by doubts and fear. She moved in quite high circles and this book focuses on her affair with Aristotle Onassis. I had no idea previous to this book that they had been involved.

This was a fascinating read - I enjoyed the descriptions, the behind the scenes in the opera world and the view into one interpretation of a famous diva's life.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this around 28%. I am not feeling the writing style - the story feels very choppy. The characters are all very unlikeable too, without enough nuance to make me interested in what is happening to them. I'm disappointed because this is exactly the type of book I normally enjoy - I love reading historical fiction about real people and their lives, I enjoy reading about celebrity, but this just wasn't working for me.

In the glamorous and competitive world of opera, Maria Callas, known as la divina, stood out with her magnificent voice, dramatic flair, and striking beauty. Raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by an exploitative mother, she learned to protect herself from those seeking to use her golden voice. When she met Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, she believed she had found someone who saw her as a woman and not just a voice to be taken advantage of. Has she found true love or will she face heartbreak once again?

This book left me feeling conflicted. Parts of it I really enjoyed. I had never heard of Maria Callas before I picked up this book, so it was interesting learning about her. I think I will have to find a recording to understand what made her the best opera soprano. Then, other parts, such as the scenes that included sex, were distasteful. I suppose I should have expected it given most of the story was about her love affair.

Just with other books I’ve read by this author, the settings came alive on every page. And, as I said, it was interesting to learn about the life of an opera singer in the 50’s and 60’s. The pace was also good. I just wish it hadn’t been so explicit or used a certain four letter word quite so much.

I would recommend this to readers who enjoy historical fiction set in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

This was a fascinating book of historical fiction about the famous opera diva, Maria Callas. I knew little about her - but if this book’s any indication, she was quite the character. Her bitter feelings toward her mother and sister and her romance with Aristotle Onassis were particularly interesting along with other famous people of the day. All the wrappings of her glamorous life were quite entertaining.

In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas was simply the greatest soprano who ever graced the stage. Her route to the glamourous life of a diva did not come easily and was fraught with betrayals, lies and a tempestuous love affair with one of the richest men in the world. Although she was diva, she was also a passionate woman full of spirit, intelligence and charisma, who used her life experiences to reach the pinnacle of opera greatness. Reading about this incredible woman was an irresistible page-turner for me! Thank you, Daisy Goodwin, for giving us a peek behind the curtain at the life of the incomparable Maria Callas.

An absolute perfect fictional depiction of Maria Callas and her meteoric rise to stardom, her relationship w/ shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis, and her stunning talent. A pioneer in her field, Callas will make you understand the difference between stardom and true talent. Told from around 1956 through the inevitable breakup of her relationship with Onassis, this fabulous novel will have you looking up Callas' opera recordings and getting the chills from those B flats and High C's. Bonus if you get the audio book; some of Callas' most famous works are included.

*special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-arc.*

Diva by Daisy Goodwin ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

What an extraordinary woman! This story follows Maria Callas, an opera singer, through her career, love affair, heartbreak, and triumph. I really loved how the author, by the end, created a picture of a real woman who sacrificed, loved, and lost, but turned all those things into positives.

The pacing was slow in this one as there were tons of descriptions on food, clothing, settings - all the glitz and glamor. I found the beginning half to be repetitive, which made it a little difficult to power through. Maria’s character was the most well-rounded with all the others being surface level, so don’t expect a deep-dive character study. The book picked up once the affair started. The author’s work shone through at the end when she was showing Maria as a real person with real feelings.

Readers who love glitz and glam, reading about real people, and historical fiction will enjoy this one.